LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 



TO 



HEATHEN NATIONS. 



BY BAPTIST W. NOEL,- M. A. 

.MINISTER OF ST. JOHN S, BEDFORD ROW. 



LONDON : 
JAMES NISBET AND CO. BERNERS STREET, 

MDCCCXLII. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER L 

THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS WITH REGARD TO THE 
HEATHEN. 

Missionaries are to be sent, 1-8. Missionaries to be main- 
tained by the church, 8-10. All denominations of pro- 
fessed Christians have sent missionaries, 10, 11. Conclu- 
sion, 11, 12. 



CHAPTER II. 

WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS ARE NEEDFUL. 

I. Statements of Scripture respecting the condition of the 
heathen, 14-17. II. Actual condition of the heathen, 17- 
New Zealand, 18-29. Tahiti, 29-33. Hindoos, 33-72. 
Chinese, 72 — 89. 



CHAPTER III. 

PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

Proved from the statements of Scripture, 92—111. 
II. Proved from experience, 111, H 2 . 1. Missions to 
barbarous nations. Greenland, 112-117. New Zealand, 
117-141. Tahiti and other islands, 141—152. General 
view, 152-159. 2. Missions to more civilized heathen 
lands, 159-163. China, 163-203. India, 203-254. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 

Results to individuals : numbers of converts, 257, 258 : cha- 
racters of converts, 259—275. Results to nations : direct, 
275—282 : indirect, 282, 283. Results to churches, 293 
—299. Results to the world, 299—307. 

CHAPTER V. 

ON THE MEANS POSSESSED BY GREAT BRITAIN FOR 
EXTENDING CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 

Population of Great Britain, 308, 309, note. Zeal of Moravians, 
311. Domestic Servants, 313. Gamblers, 313. Theatres, 
314. Spirit drinking, 315. Wars, 316 — 318. Rental, 318. 
Property created annually, 318. Standing armies of Euro- 
pean nations, 320, note. Objections to a large missionary- 
expenditure, 322—324. Various advantages possessed by 
Great Britain, 324—327. 



CHAPTER VI. 

ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 

Single missionaries, 328, 329. Advantages of conjunction, 

330 — 335. Mischiefs which follow from sending solitary 

missionaries, 335, 336. Effects already produced by a 
conjunction of missionaries, 336 — 345. 

CHAPTER VII. 

ON THE MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 

The command of God, the state of the heathen, the practi- 
cability of missions, and their results, 346—349. Our 



CONTENTS. 



V 



growing knowledge, 349. Past neglects, 350—353. Ex- 
amples of liberality, 353—361. Examples of covetous- 
ness, 361. Statements of Scripture respecting covetous- 
ness, 362, 363. Our Christian privileges, 364. Pleasure 
of doing good, 365. Liberality pleasing to God, 366. 
Liberality is followed by the blessing of God, 367 — 371 . 
Our obligations to the Lord Jesus Christ, 371 — 373. His 
example, 373—375. His love, 375. Conclusion, 375— 
377. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 

I. The duty of the Church in general, 378. To strengthen 
and extend existing missions, 379 — 381. Generally to 
place several missionaries at the same station, 381. Natives 
to be educated for the ministry, 381 — 385. Chinese vessels 
to be employed for the Chinese mission, 389, 390. Societies 
to avoid collision in their missions, 390, Missions to be 
extended, 391. Sailors to be improved, 391. II. The 
aid which may be rendered by various classes, 392 — 405. 
III. Dispositions required, 405. Great obstacles to mis- 
sions ; worldliness, strife, and unbelief, 406—409. Our 
need of the Holy Spirit, 409. Need of prayer, 411 — 415. 



PREFACE. 



Several other works on Missions having 
lately appeared, or being already announced, 
it may be asked why the author has added 
another to the list ? His answer is, that the 
subject is so extensive that scarcely two writers 
would be likely to treat it in the same manner, 
and so important that it deserves to be viewed 
in different lights. He does not question that 
other works of the same kind may manifest 
more knowledge, talent, and piety, still he 
ventures to hope that his own, though it may 
occupy a secondary place, will be found to 
supply some information which ma)' have 
escaped the notice of others, or some argu- 



Vlll 



PREFACE. 



ments in favour of missions which have been 
elsewhere overlooked. 

The work is limited to the investigation of 
the character of Christian Missions to the 
heathen; but it is obviously only a part of a 
much wider subject, the duty of Christians to 
evangelize the world. Mahommedans, Jews, 
Roman Catholics, and the whole multitude of 
the ungodly and uninstructed in every Pro- 
testant country, were committed to the care of 
the church, when Christ said to his disciples, 
" Ye are the light of the world ; ye are the 
salt of the earth" The author has shown, 
unless he mistakes, that the heathen nations, 
generally, are ready to receive Christian Mis- 
sionaries; but to this it may be added, that 
there are facilities for preaching the Gospel 
in all other parts of the world. Mahommedan 
nations, weak and disorganized, recognizing 
the superiority of the European powers, Chris- 
tians under the protection of those governments 
may now use means for promulgating their 
faith in those countries, which not long since 
would have been impossible. A Protestant 
bishop has been permitted to establish Protes- 
tant worship in Jerusalem ; and the wife of a 
Protestant missionary has been encouraged to 



PREFACE. 



ix 



instruct in various European knowledge, the 
ladies of the harem of Mahommed Ali. A 
wide spread scepticism on the subject of their 
own religion is said, by travellers, to prevail 
among the richer Turks; European improve- 
ments have been introduced into the discipline 
of the Egyptian and Turkish armies ; the 
Mamelukes and the Janissaries are no more; 
and the young Egyptians who have been 
educated in England and France, must carry 
back European ideas to their own country. 
Several Syrian youths are now receiving their 
education in this country, who, when well 
acquainted with English literature, are likely 
to infuse into Syrian society the same spirit of 
inquiry, which the revival of letters, and an 
acquaintance with the masculine writers of 
Greece and Rome, gave to Europe in the 
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ; and the poli- 
tical regeneration of Greece must exert a 
powerful influence on the Christian population 
of that part of the world. Under these cir- 
cumstances, it is much to be regretted that 
missions to the Mahommedan nations, and to 
the decayed churches of the East, are not pro- 
secuted with greater energy; and I earnestly 
hope that the Syrian Education Society, and 



X 



PREFACE. 



the Association for promoting Medical Know- 
ledge in Syria, as prefatory to more extensive 
operations, will meet with encouragement. 

Among the Jews, there is also a manifest 
moral and intellectual progress. The depar- 
ture from the barbarous system of our ances- 
tors, which treated their unbelief as a crime 
against society, and themselves as outcasts from 
the constitution, which shut them out from 
social privileges, and exposed them to unjust 
spoliation, has been most advantageously re- 
placed, by a more mild and equitable treat- 
ment. No longer spurned, they have felt a 
generous emulation of other classes, and are 
beginning to seek for moral and spiritual im- 
provement. Two translations of the Old Tes- 
tament, by Jews, are now in the course of 
publication. A large body of English Jews, 
rejecting Rabbinical traditions and supersti- 
tions, are resolved to adhere to the Scriptures. 
The Jews have now a religious periodical of 
their own, called " The Voice of Jacob." They 
are establishing a college for the training of 
young men for the Jewish ministry, and they 
are beoinnino; to found schools, to communi- 
cate " a sound and liberal education of their 
youth on religious principles." 



PREFACE. 



xi 



Every Christian must hail these tokens of 
increased respect for the Word of God. It 
must diminish the distance between them and 
Christians, and prepare the way for the con- 
version of many to Christ. Kind treatment, 
an admission to civil privileges, the friendly 
discussion of the points at issue between the 
Jews and Christians, the conversion of some 
eminent men among them, such as Neander, 
to Christianity, are leading them to inquiry on 
the subject of Christianity ; and the fact that 
more than half of the missionaries of the So- 
ciety for promoting Christianity among the 
Jews are Jewish converts, shows that they are 
more accessible to enlightened, considerate, and 
persevering Christian zeal, than they have been 
at any period of the Christian era with which 
we are acquainted. 

Simultaneously with other religionists, the 
Roman Catholics of Europe and America have 
experienced a revival of zeal, and are indulging 
the hope of absorbing the various Protestant 
churches in their wide spread communion : 
Yet is evangelical religion, divested of a party 
and political character, making a peaceful war 
upon their superstitions and their exclusive- 
ness. In Ireland and on the Continent of 



Xll 



PREFACE. 



Europe there has been a large circulation of 
the Scriptures among Roman Catholics, which 
still continues and increases. And while po- 
litical animosities, incident to Protestant do- 
mination, has exasperated the religious bitter- 
ness of Catholics against Protestants in Ireland, 
in France, on the contrary, there is a decided 
leaning towards Protestantism among many 
educated men. Before the Revolution no Pro- 
testant could have been prime minister; De 
Tocqueville would not have declared that the 
United States is the most religious nation on 
the earth ; nor would Michelet, in writing the 
Memoirs of the German Reformer, have as- 
cribed to that great man the emancipation of 
the intellect of Europe. It is sometimes thought 
that Roman Catholics are inaccessible to Pro- 
testant argument ; but nothing; can be farther 
from the truth. In France, and even in 
Belgium, wherever the agents of the three 
" Societes Evangeliques" of Paris, Geneva, 
and Belgium, have introduced the Scriptures, 
they have found ready purchasers, and col- 
lected willing listeners to hear their simple 
exposition of the Gospel. The anger and 
alarm manifested in many of the episcopal 
charges of France, sufficiently indicate that 



PREFACE. 



Xlll 



this evangelical movement has not been in vain. 
And if without railing, without advocating 
their exclusion from civil and political rights, 
without indecent invectives, and without ex- 
travagant charges, Christians did more zea- 
lously offer to the Catholics a knowledge of 
the Scriptures, and seek them out as is done 
by the Scripture readers of Ireland, and the 
Colporteurs of France, the Word of God would 
not fail to penetrate many a devout heart, and 
bring those who are now paying an idolatrous 
homage to the Virgin Mary, to seek salvation 
and peace exclusively in Christ. 

Lastly, Christians have to act with more 
union and energy upon the ungodly portion of 
Protestant communities. It cannot but excite 
regret to think, that while so much is done for 
the heathen, so little has been done for the 
colonists of Great Britain, and for the masses of 
uninstructed persons who have grown up in our 
cities and manufacturing districts. The Co- 
lonial Church Society, which occupies, with 
respect to the colonies of Great Britain, that 
place which the Church Missionary Society 
occupies with respect to the heathen, having in 
view the concentration of the missionary zeal of 
the evangelical portion of the Church of Eng- 



xiv 



PREFACE. 



land upon the colonies, to which they have 
hitherto contributed almost nothing, appears to 
me to deserve a very zealous and liberal support, 
by all those who wish to see a revival of pure 
religion, through the agency of evangelical 
ministers of the Church of England, through 
those important portions of the empire. At 
the same time, the labouring classes of London, 
Manchester, and Liverpool, now to a great ex- 
tent shut out from the public means of grace, 
and to a much greater extent refusing in fact to 
avail themselves of those means, ought surely 
to receive far more attention than they have, 
from those disciples of Christ, who remember 
that Christ has told them to be the light of the 
world and the salt of the earth. 

How long will real Christians spend upon 
strife with one another, those energies which are 
all needed for the great warfare with ungodli- 
ness and vice, to which they are called ? Will 
evangelical dissenters associate more freely with 
Catholics for the subversion of the Establish- 
ment, than with pious churchmen for the sub- 
version of ignorance and vice ; and will evan- 
gelical churchmen associate more freely with 
those within the Establishment, who hold the 
semi-popish doctrines which by a very natural 



PREFACE. 



XV 



process have led one unhappy minister to apos- 
tatise from Protestantism, for the support of the 
Establishment, than they will with pious dis- 
senters, for the advancement of the kingdom of 
Christ among the ignorant ? How long must 
the ungodly portion of the world triumph, in 
the divisions among Christ's followers ? Never 
were there such opportunities of doing good 
through the wide world. Let us pray for grace 
to use them as we ought. 

The author has only to add, that the whole of 
the following essay having been written about 
two years ago, the numbers of converts, schools, 
churches, &c. reported in the several missions 
according to the latest reports at that time, have 
not been enlarged by more recent lists. 



ERRATA. 

Page 1. line 2, after the word " words," place a comma instead 
of a full stop. 

Page 92, line 9, expunge the words " I. Statements of Scrip- 
ture." 

Page 111, line 24, insert Section II. Practicability of Missions 
proved by Experience. 

Page 112 . . expunge the words " Section First." 

Page 159 . . expunge the words " Section Second." 

Page 203, line 4, insert II. It is practicable to introduce the Gos- 
pel into India. 



AN ESSAY, &c. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS WITH REGARD TO THE 
HEATHEN. 



" Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every 
creature/'— Matt. xvi. 15. 



There is no event in human history like that re- 
corded in these words. God so loved the world, 
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life. Of that Saviour we read, " In the he- 
ginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
God, and the Word was God. All things were 
made by him; and without him was not any 
thing made that was made." " He upholds all 
things by the word of his power," and " all things 
were created for him." Yet has he taken our na- 
ture, lived upon this earth, and endured in our 
stead unknown sufferings. " He was made sin for 
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the 

B 



2 



THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 



righteousness of God in him." " Christ hath re- 
deemed us from the curse of the law, being made a 
curse for us :" " who his own self bare our sins in 
his own body on the tree.'" It was no slight mis- 
fortune from which that expiatory death was to 
deliver us. 

Unable to make any atonement to God for their 
sins, " as many as are of the works of the law, are 
under the curse ;" but as without him no man could 
have any other title to the divine favour, except 
his own works, therefore without him all men must 
have endured their Maker's curse, with the gloomy 
prospect of lying under it for ever. To sink into 
complete depravity, to be crushed beneath into- 
lerable sorrow, to endure unavailing remorse, and 
to be overwhelmed by absolute despair, was the 
only end which would have awaited even the most 
amiable and the most intelligent of ungodly men; 
but God gave us his Son, that " whosoever be- 
lieveth should not perish, but have everlasting life." 

What an inconceivable change has thus passed 
over the condition of believers ! Time cannot de- 
velope it : language cannot express it. They have 
passed from under the curse of God into the pos- 
session of his favour. Imperishable riches, and un- 
fading honours, a dignity beyond that of monarchs, 
and a bliss like that of angels, are secured to 
them for ever. They would have been sentenced to 
everlasting destruction ; they will be admitted to 
eternal life : in hell they could never have received 
the mercy of God ; in heaven they can never incur 



WITH REGARD TO THE HEATHEN. 3 

his anger. There they will be no less secure than 
blessed : ages will witness no diminution in their 
happiness ; and accident can expose them to no re- 
verse. Associated with all the noblest, the most 
intelligent, the best, and the happiest of the crea- 
tures of God, all feeling for him as for a brother, 
each believer will have every desire accomplished,' 
every faculty employed ; and loving God with all 
his heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, he will 
feel, in the presence of the Divine glory and the 
consciousness of the Divine favour, that his love is 
satisfied. Meanwhile, even in this present life, 
where the change is altogether incomplete, it is 
enough to fill his heart with trembling exultation. 
Before he believed, he was the slave of sin; but 
now it is mastered : then he could not obey the 
law; but now he obeys it with delight: then he 
was either the prey of remorse, or only saved from 
it by a criminal insensibility to the evil of sin ; now 
he can confess his vileness and yet be at peace in 
Christ: then he shrunk from all communion with 
God; it is now among his greatest joys. Divine 
grace has made him benevolent, useful, and happy. 
The almighty, eternal, and unchangeable God, hav- 
ing become his protector and friend, all things 
work together for his good. He can carry all his 
sorrow to the throne of grace, with the assurance 
that all real good shall be given in answer to his 
prayers ; and though he is in a world of trouble, 
he is often as happy as any one can be, who has 
still much guilt to mourn over, and many corrup- 

b 2 



4 



THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 



tions to subdue. On the other hand, the^ future 
is as bright as the present is peaceful. "Whether 
things present or things to come, whether life or 
death, all things are his: death is a conquered 
foe ; for in his happiest hours, when he is most de- 
lighting in the bounty of God, content with the pre- 
sent and without care for the future, he has more 
reason to desire than to dread it ; and whatever be 
the hopes which now cheer his passage to the tomb, 
they will be all immeasurably outdone by the 
reality, the moment he enters into the joy of his 
Lord. All this is the happiness of each one of 
the chosen people of God. No matter of what na- 
tion they be, of what rank, or of what attainments ; 
the poorest and the most ignorant, no less than the 
learned and the noble, the worst equally with the 
best, when brought by grace to believe in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, are admitted to all these privi- 
leges. Immense creation of bliss ! Wherever there 
is a tongue to speak, and an ear to listen, let this 
sentence be proclaimed, " God so loved the world, 
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life." 

Can then the disciples of Christ leave the world 
in ignorance of this truth? In the exercise of 
a love which passes knowledge, he has effected 
by his own death, an atonement for human guilt, 
through which each miserable and condemned sin- 
ner, by believing in Him, may be made unspeak- 
ably happy for ever ; and how can we let them die 



WITH REGARD TO THE HEATHEN. 



5 



without knowing this? To communicate to men 
this knowledge, St. Paul, renouncing all objects of 
worldly ambition, welcomed, in their place, oppo- 
sition, insult, and suffering; for this object he 
endured innumerable privations and passed through 
appalling dangers ; and although for his zeal he 
was scorned, calumniated, and reviled, imprisoned 
as a disturber of the peace, and scourged as a 
condemned malefactor, such was his sense of the 
value of the Gospel, that after years of suffering, 
he could say, " Xone of these things move me, 
neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I 
might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, 
which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify 
the Gospel of the grace of God:' But if he was 
right in this zeal, how can we refuse to imitate it ? 
A similar spirit seems to have inspired many of the 
first Christians; for obnoxious as their faith was 
both to Jews and Greeks, still when they were 
driven from Jerusalem by persecution, refusing to 
conceal the good news by which they hoped that 
their fellow creatures would be saved^ they " went 
every where preaching the Word." So that within 
a short period, they seem to have proclaimed the 
Gospel among all nations; for when St. Paul 
mentioned to the Colossians their reception of the 
Gospel, he reminded them that it was now " in all 
the world ;" and he afterwards assured them that 
it had been preached " to every creature under 
heaven ." Indeed how could they doubt whether it 
was their duty thus to preach Christ, since his 



6 



THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 



latest command to the eleven, had been this, " Go 
ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to 
every creature?" Without any command, their 
knowledge of the value of the blessedness which 
his cross has obtained for believers, would alone 
have made them eager to preach it; but the com- 
mand was also peremptory. Nor was there any 
reason to restrict its application to those disciples 
who heard it ; because our Lord, before his ascent, 
while thus charging them to teach all nations, 
added, " and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto 
the end of the world" Other disciples, therefore, 
were to be engaged in this work, long after the 
apostles were called to their reward. Here was a 
commission given to them, and to all believers who 
should come after them, to go forth as evangelists 
to the nations, till all time should be exhausted, and 
all the world be taught. The end is not yet : and 
therefore the command still comes, as though fresh 
from God himself, to all not hindered by other 
duties: " Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
Gospel to every creature" ~No less distinctly may 
we learn our duty from prophecy. In the 14th 
chapter of the Revelations, three great events are 
described, the fall of Babylon, the harvest of the 
world, and its vintage ; under which symbols are 
prefigured, the destruction of Popery, the gathering 
of multitudes into the church of Christ, and the 
judgment of God upon his enemies. But these 
three events are to be preceded by another. One 
angel was heard to exclaim, " Babylon is fallen, is 



"WITH REGARD TO THE HEATHEN. 7 

fallen;" another gathered the clusters of the earth; 
and one, like the Son of Man, was seen by the 
Apostle to reap the earth's harvest: but before 
these three symbolical actions, the Apostle saw an 
angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the ever- 
lasting Gospel to preach to every nation, and 
kindred, and tongue, and people ; by which as- 
suredly we are taught, that before those three great 
events which are coming on the earth, the Gospel 
must be universally proclaimed. In the opinion of 
some eminent expositors, we are living near those 
times, in which the fall of Babylon, the vintage of 
the earth, and its harvest, must by the concurrent 
voice of prophecy take place; if so, we are living 
at the very period, when the voice of God especially 
calls us to preach the Gospel, to every nation of the 
earth. If, on the other hand, these events are 
reserved for some future day, still is the preaching 
of the Gospel to precede them for some indefinite 
time ; and therefore, in the order of prophecy, the 
time may now be come for this universal dissemi- 
nation of the truth. 

If it be assigned as a reason why Christians in 
general need not occupy themselves with missions, 
that all cannot be called to be missionaries, we may 
remark, that although it be undoubtedly true, that 
all are not so called, yet many persons may too 
hastily conclude that they are not. Endowed with 
strength of body and with vigour of mind, well 
educated, and abundantly qualified, in some re- 
spects, to preach the Gospel to the heathen, they 



8 



THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 



do not go; because the possession of wealth has 
rendered them self-indulgent, or the opportunity of 
acquiring wealth has made them eagerly covet its 
possession. This, with a worldly spirit, and with 
indifference to the salvation of the heathen, is 
perhaps the only proof which they can give, that 
they are not called to be missionaries. Had they 
been more spiritually minded, more filled with faith, 
and love, and gratitude, more devoted to Christ, 
and more compassionate to sinners, they would 
then, perhaps, have felt themselves constrained to 
enter on the office. 

But further, it does not follow that, because a 
person is not called to be a missionary, he is at 
liberty to refuse support to missions. By Christ's 
appointment, missionaries are to be maintained by 
their brethren. " Do ye not know that they which 
minister about holy things live of the things of the 
temple? and they which wait at the altar are par- 
takers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord 
ordained that they which preach the Gospel should 
live of the Gospel." 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14. It is the 
will of God that the Gospel should be preached to 
the world, and it is his will that those who preach 
the Gospel should be maintained for that purpose : 
but as the heathen to whom they preach will not in 
general maintain them, it becomes, therefore, the 
duty of the church. Those members of the church 
of God, who, without other duties to prevent, are 
well qualified for the work, ought to be appointed 
to it, and the rest are bound to support them. 



WITH REGARD TO THE HEATHEN. 9 

On this subject St. John is very explicit. Gaiiis, 
to whom he wrote his third epistle, having* shown 
kindness to some Christian missionaries, St. John 
thus expressed his approbation, as an inspired 
apostle of Christ. " Beloved, thou doest faithfidly 
Whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to 
strangers ; which have home witness of thy charity 
before the church : whom if thou briny forward on 
their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well : 
because that for his names sake they went forth, 
taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore 
ought to receive such, that we might be fellow 
helpers to the truth" 3 John 5 — 8. From this 
passage it appears, 1st, that the Christian mis- 
sionaries in that day preached to the heathen 
without receiving support from them ; 2ndly, that 
their Christian brethren aided them in that work ; 
3rdly, that it was agreeable to the will of God, and 
the duty of those other Christians, to give them this 
support ; and consequently, that it is the duty of 
those who cannot preach to the heathen to aid 
those who can. 

These remarks seem sufficient to show what we 
are called to do. The sacrifice which has been 
made for sinners, the ruin to which they are ex- 
posed, the blessings which accompany the reception 
of the Gospel, the missionary zeal of the first Chris- 
tians, the command of Christ, the explicit language 
of prophecy, and the practice of the early church, 
show plainly that if we do not support christian 
missions, we are living in the neglect of an obvious 

b 3 



10 



THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 



and important duty. Accordingly, Christians of 
almost every denomination, and those, even, who 
have nothing of Christianity but the name, have 
recognized this undeniable duty. Dwarfed, scrubby 
thorns will live under an arctic sky, and the icy 
regions of Unitarianism have put forth a few fruit- 
less missionary efforts, to afford a signal testimony, 
wrung from the reluctant and the cold, to the obli- 
gation which rests upon all who call themselves 
Christians, to make known the gospel of Christ. 

As the friends of rationalism, on the one hand, 
have had their missionaries, the staunch advocates 
of superstition, the slaves of ecclesiastical despotism, 
have also furnished theirs. Indeed, Roman Catholic 
missionaries have been neither few nor cold-hearted. 
When the disciples of Loyola, in Europe, were 
seizing the direction of every seminary, and in- 
triguing in every court, the more ardent and sin- 
cere of their confraternity, were carrying the dogmas 
of their church, their crucifixes and their vestments, 
their bells and their candles, to the furthest extre- 
mity of the old and new worlds. They erected an 
empire in Paraguay ; established themselves in 
India; and found their way to Pekin itself. Nor 
were their rivals in the church less active. If some 
of the followers of St. Dominic were burning men 
in Spain for being Christians in reality, others were 
ready to die, rather than renounce the Christian 
name in China and Japan. 

To turn to men of very different principles. The 
Society of Friends, though they recognize no other 



WITH REGARD TO THE HEATHEN. 11 

call to missionary exertion than the impulse on the 
minds of individuals, have also had their mission- 
aries. On the other hand, men of sounder creeds 
have, as we might expect, been more zealous and 
more successful. The Moravian brethren led the 
way, and, though sometimes disappointed in their 
hopes, have more often been eminently blessed. 
After them the great denominations of Protestant- 
ism, the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Indepen- 
dents, Baptists, and Methodists, have all entered 
on the work zealously. The Presbyterians of Scot- 
land, France, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, and 
the United States ; the Episcopalians, Indepen- 
dents, Baptists, and Methodists of England and 
America, are all co-operating in the same work. 
What church of Christ denies the duty? What 
great body of Christians does not, in some measure, 
fulfil it ? 

If, therefore, any one who bears the christian 
name, can find it in his heart to despise these mis- 
sionary efforts, or to deny that we are called to 
make them, his views and practice, supported as 
they are by the indolent, the thoughtless, the 
selfish, and the profane, are opposed to the views 
and practice of the great body of the disciples of 
Christ. He sets up his heartless scepticism against 
the universal conviction of the church of God. All 
who are animated by gratitude to the Redeemer, 
and by compassion towards sinners, are compelled, 
by the sacrifice of Christ, by the value of salvation' 
by the practice of the early Christians, by the lan- 

b 4 



12 THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS, &C. 

guage of prophecy, and by the express command 
of God, to engage in this work: and he who, re- 
jecting these considerations, and dissenting from 
the universal practice of real Christians, will do 
nothing to promote it, too plainly shows that he 
knows little of the Gospel, and may well fear that 
he has no part in its promises. Not to aid, if we 
have the power, in sending forth missionaries, is 
to live in violation of Christ's express injunctions. 
He has loved us, and given himself for us ; he 
is Lord, both of the dead and the living; his will 
is the law of the church ; his pleasure ought to be 
our happiness ; and if we disregard his authority, 
and despise his command, we are no Christians. 
Whatever, therefore, others may think, those who 
engage in this work need not falter. They go with 
his sanction ; they act under his orders : The 
eternal God is their refuge, and underneath are 
the everlasting arms; and he shall thrust out the 
enemy from before them ; and shall say, Destroy 
them. They are now in the path of duty, and 
they will ultimately reap their reward. 



CHAPTER II. 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS ARE NEEDFUL. 



" For as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish 
without law/' — Rom. ii. 12. 

The various proofs already adduced, to show that 
it is our duty to preach the Gospel to the heathen, 
should of themselves make us enter heartily on that 
work. The church of God should furnish the world 
with missionaries, because it is the express will of 
Christ that they should : but we have a further 
inducement in our knowledge of the world's con- 
dition. Were there no apparent need, the com- 
mand would oblige us to exertion ; but the truth 
is, that the need is as urgent as the command is 
clear. Indolent and selfish persons are not, in- 
deed, without plausible reasons for inaction; for 
when did selfishness ever lack arguments in its 
own defence? We are, therefore, sometimes told, 
that there is little difference between a virtuous 
heathen and the greater number of Christians ; that 
many heathens have very amiable dispositions, ma- 
nifest much devotion to what they think religion, 



14 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 

make great sacrifices to duty, worship God accord- 
ing to the light which they possess ; and that they 
will not be condemned for rejecting that which they 
never knew. Now it is to be feared that such 
instances of heathen virtue, if they exist at all, 
are so rare, as to afford us no hope for the mass. 
Repeatedly has the writer asked persons who had 
lived long in heathen lands, and keenly observed 
their moral peculiarities, how many truly conscien- 
tious heathens they had found ; and almost uni- 
formly they answered, none. Devotees may be 
found, and persons with much kindness of heart, 
but they never knew any who seemed to act with a 
constant regard to what they believed to be right, 
when passion or interest prompted them to do what 
they knew to be wrong. Those rare cases, if they 
exist, make no change in the prospects of others. 
Even theirs would be dark in the extreme ; but 
leaving them out of view, as forming a class too 
small to be noticed in an enquiry of this kind, 
let us usk what is the condition of the mass ? 

L STATEMENTS OF SCRIPTURE RESPECTING THE 
CONDITION OF THE HEATHEN. 

If those spiritual and eternal blessings, which 
have been purchased for believers by the death of 
Christ, could be communicated to those who do not 
know him, we should still, for various reasons, 
be anxious to leave none unacquainted with his 
history. But these blessings are every where, in 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



15 



the Scriptures, limited to faith. " God so loved the 
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in him should not perish" 
" Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to 
every creature. He that believeth, and is bap- 
tized, shall be saved." " Ye are all the children 
of God by faith." " By grace are ye saved 
through faith." What reason have we, there- 
fore, in the absence of all information to that 
effect, to suppose that they can be communicated to 
any others than those who believe ? The silence of 
the Scriptures would alone be very ominous: for 
since all men deserve to perish, or Christ's death 
would have been superfluous, what reason have we, 
in the absence of any promise, to suppose that they 
will not suffer what they deserve? Undoubtedly, 
they who have not heard the Gospel, will not 
be condemned for rejecting it; but what is there to 
enable us to believe, that they are not in the condi- 
tion in which they would have been, had Christ not 
come? If, without Christ, all men would have 
perished, and God has only declared that those 
who believe in him shall be saved, what reason 
is there for hope, that those shall be saved who 
do not know him? To increase our fear for them, 
the Bible expressly connects salvation with the 
knowledge of Christ. " This is life eternal, that 
they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ, whom thou hast sent." How can the know- 
ledge of Christ be life eternal, if men can be equally 
saved without that knowledge? Men are to be 



16 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



saved by knowing Christ ; then it seems too plain 
that, without knowing him, they cannot be saved. 
And this awful truth is too much confirmed, by 
almost all the expressions of Scripture, referring to 
the state of the heathen. Every passage on the 
subject, like the signal-gun of the vessel foundering 
at sea, breaks in on our selfish slumbers, and awak- 
ening us to the howl of the midnight storm, bids us 
put out among the breakers to save the perishing 
crew. Let who will sleep, we must wake. What, 
though the heathen nations have not rejected the 
Gospel, they have violated the law written on their 
hearts. The Word of God says of them, " all have 
sinned" 1 and " the wages of sin is death" 2 Doubt- 
less there will be the most discriminating justice in 
the decisions of the last day ; and he who knew not 
his Lord's will shall be beaten with fewer stripes 
than they, who have disregarded the commands 
with which they were familiar; 3 but he will not 
therefore escape. All " being alienated from the 
life of God through the ignorance that is in them, 
because of the blindness of their heart" 41 " alien- 
ated, and enemies in their minds by wiched works" 5 
under " the power of Satan" 6 with " a carnal mind, 
which is enmity against God," 1 and " dead in tres- 
passes and sins," 8 are therefore " children of wrath," 
and " strangers from the covenants of promise, 



1 Rom. iii. 23. 
4 Eph. iv. 18. 
7 Rom. viii. 7. 



2 Rom. vi. 23. 
5 Col. i. 21. 
8 Eph. ii. 1. 



3 Luke xii. 47, 48. 
6 Acts xxvi. 18. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



17 



having no hope, and without God in the ivorld" 1 
The Scriptures, therefore, give no hope of their 
being* saved without the knowledge of Christ. 
And they can only know him by Christian mis- 
sionaries. When the Jews were unwilling that 
salvation should be preached to the Gentiles, it 
was thus that St. Paul justified the evangelists of 
his day. " Whosoevr shall call upon the name of 
the Lord shall he saved. How then shall they call 
on him in whom they have not believed? and how 
shall they believe in him of whom they have not 
heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 
and how shall they preach except they be sent ?" 2 If 
Christian teachers go they may be saved ; but if we 
refuse to send them, they must remain in igno- 
rance, and perish. 

II. ACTUAL CONDITION OF HEATHEN NATIONS. 

While the language of Scripture shows that 
there is so little hope for the mass of the heathen, 
an examination of their actual condition leads us 
to the same conclusion. 

Since salvation is given through Christ alone, 
and since, with a view to glorify him, believers are 
justified by faith without works, there is little 
reason, in the absence of any assertion of Scrip- 
ture, to suppose that salvation can also be given in 
a way which does not glorify him ; or to believe 



Eph. ii. 12. 



2 Rom. x. 13—15. 



18 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 

that God would make the knowledge of Christ, 
trust in him, and love towards him, in a degree 
superfluous, by saving those who neither know, 
nor trust in, nor love him : but the need of an 
atonement is not the only obstacle to a sinner's 
salvation. 

Since our Lord has said, " Blessed are the pure 
in heart, for they shall see God," and the Apostle 
has added, " Without holiness no man shall see the 
Lord," it is clear that personal holiness is a neces- 
sary qualification, for heaven ; but is there the 
least evidence that the heathen possess it ? 

It would be impossible to introduce into this 
Essay, half the information furnished us by recent 
travellers, respecting the moral condition of the 
various heathen nations, with which we are well 
acquainted. But if we can show the condition of 
several of these nations, who are either superior to 
the rest, or not inferior to them, we may thence 
infer the condition of the remainder. 

1. New Zealand. — Among the nations entirely 
uncivilised, the INTew Zealanders hold a distin- 
guished place. They have intelligence, affection, 
strength, and beauty; they are cheerful and in- 
genious, neat in the cultivation of their gardens, 
not nearly so indolent as the inhabitants of lower 
latitudes, and evince as much courage as almost 
any savages with whom we are acquainted ; yet, 
alas! every European who has lived among them, 
concurs with Mr. Butter, one of the Missionaries 
of the Church Missionary Society, in representing 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



19 



them as " a proud, savage, obstinate, and cruel race 
of cannibals." 1 

What better could be reasonably expected ? 
Their nature is, like our own, corrupt ; and their 
religion, unlike ours, tends only to complete their 
debasement. Mawe, the king of heaven, one of 
their deified heroes, is represented to have revelled 
on human flesh, and at length to have been mur- 
dered by his wife because of his infidelity. The 
other gods (na Atna,) are said by them to be 
equally vicious. 2 When a thief was asked by 
Mr. Polack, whether their deities would not punish 
theft, he answered, "0 no ; on earth they were 
accustomed to do the same, and parents delight in 
children following their example." 3 While their 
inferior deities are supposed to delight in thieving, 
the Great Spirit is believed to be implacable, and 

1 Evidence of D. Coates, Esq. before a Committee of the 
House of Lords, 185. 

2 Polack's New Zealand, i. 356 — 358. Much of the infor- 
mation given of the state of the people is taken from " New 
Zealand," a work by J. S. Polack, Esq , Member of the Colonial 
Society of London. Mr. Polack lived on the island from 1831 
to 1837, and can have no wish to traduce the natives. He is 
evidently a good-natured man, and so far from having an enmity 
towards the natives, lived with them on very friendly terms ; nor 
can he feel any undue partiality for the missionaries. Since he 
dealt in spirits, they denounced the use of them; he was of the 
Jewish persuasion, they uncompromising Christians ; and though 
he was on friendly terms with several of them, he appears never 
to have joined in their worship. 

3 Polack, ii. 94. 



20 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



the origin of all evil. 1 " Of the one true and 
living God they have not the most distant idea, 
but of imaginary deities they have numbers ; birds, 
reptiles, and fishes are included in the number. 
Their principal deities are the souls of their de- 
parted relatives, of whom they feel the most super- 
stitious dread. To these they always pray before 
they go to v>ar, and entreat them to impart their 
anger to them to enable them to fight and conquer 
their enemies. . . . TThen any are afflicted among 
them, they say the Atua (God) has got within, and 
is eating them ; and in this way, according to their 
view, all their afflictions and death are brought 
about." 2 ft 

Their moral character answers to these ideas of 
the superior beings whom they adore. They lie 
and steal without scruple or shame ; they are 
grossly profligate ; they are devoted to drinking ; 
they perpetually calumniate each other, are furious 
in their quarrels, and merciless in their revenge. 

On all these points the evidence is abundant and 
unequivocal. Unnumbered instances are given by 
those who have written on the subject. Here T 
can only quote a few expressions. 

" The principal chiefs of the lands, it is well 

1 Polack, ii. 225. 

2 Testimony of Mr. Turner, Wesleyan Missionary, cited by 
Mr. Beecbam, in the evidence on New Zealand, taken before a 
Committee of the House of Lords, ordered to be printed, April 3, 
1838, 212. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



21 



known, are unworthy of being tructed on their 
most solemn affirmation, and once excited, they 
will not scruple to slander their dearest and nearest 
relatives by tales of wild inventions — the effects of 
bitter hatred and passion." 1 " They (the slaves) 
are not less given to the abominable art of lying 
than the chiefs." 2 If a slave steal from a chief he 
is doomed to death, they, therefore, know well that 
it is criminal. Still theft is nearly universal ; they 
will cheat in their 'transactions with Europeans ; 
they plunder the stores of settlers. Many in- 
stances of theft are mentioned by Mr. Polack, 
and he adds, " instances may be multiplied ad 
infinitum." They pilfered from the missionaries ; 
the house of the British Resident has been at- 
tacked for plunder, and ships have been constantly 
plundered. 3 This propensity of theirs to steal 
proved nearly fatal to the travellers, Bennet and 
Tyerman, who visited Wangaroa Bay, in July, 
1824. The appearance of the natives who came 
on board was filthy, and their manners were dis- 
gusting. They soon began to pilfer. One thing 
was taken after another, and when the captain 
began to clear the deck of the intruders, the 
women and children leaped overboard into their 
canoes, the men were stripped for action, and in a 
few minutes the ship was in their possession. One 
chief, with his slaves, stood round the captain, 



1 Polack, ii. 146, 2 Ibid. ii. 211. 

3 Polack, i. 219, 379 ; ii. 50, 70, 87, &c, 97, 99, 221. 



22 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



with their spears ready to be plunged into his 
breast. A stout slave, belonging to a second chief, 
had pinioned Mr. Bennet, while another slave 
brandished an axe over his head. A third chief 
had taken Mr. Tyerman into his custody, and his 
slaves, with cannibal eagerness, were handling his 
arms, his sides, and his legs. For two hours they 
continued to rage and threaten, when a boat from 
Wangaroa, with a Wesleyan Missionary, and a 
principal chief in it, coming in sight, mitigated 
their ferocity ; and at length the chief coming on 
board, induced them, by his authority, to relinquish 
their prey. 1 

Their songs and conversations are vile, and the 
most abandoned women are not disgraced in ge- 
neral estimation by their profligacy. 2 They are 
exceedingly given to intoxicating liquors. 3 "The 
chiefs invariably calumniate each other, sickening 
with envy and rancour on any praise being awarded 
to their equals. To place the slightest reliance 
on the observations they make against each other 
would be idle; for, with the exception of the 
speaker and his company, they stigmatize each 
of their acquaintance, as the most wicked and 
profligate rascals under heaven, without a particle 
of common decency, faith, courage, or honour, to 
apologize for their general bad conduct." 4 " They 

1 Voyages and Travels by Bennet and Tyerman, ii. 129, &c. 

2 Ibid. i. 188, 371, 372. 

3 Evidence of Mr. Polack before the Lords, 89. 

4 Polack, ii. 767. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



23 



are clamorous and quarrelsome." " Public and 
private contentions are very frequent." 1 And 
when a wrong is to be avenged, they care not by 
what treachery they effect their purpose. 2 "To 
record the various murders committed by these 
people against each other," says Mr. Polack, 
" would alone fill a volume." 3 " Slanders, wrongs, 
insults, murders, superstition, the love of plunder, 
and other causes, lead to perpetual wars ; and 
the cruelty and cannibalism which attend them, 
pass all description and belief. When an enemy 
is conquered, numbers of the dead and dying are 
devoured ; prisoners are tortured to death ; they 
revile and insult the dead bodies as though they 
were alive ; they eat the flesh of the living prisoner, 
and they will sometimes drink the warm blood as 
it flows from his living veins ; nay, with a brutality 
still more hardened, they will steal into the villages, 
in which their enemies have left their defenceless 
women and children, and after an indiscriminate 
massacre, proceed to feast upon the mangled 
bodies." 4 As late as 1836, in a war between the 
southern tribes, there were fearful scenes. The mis- 
sionary, Knight, when coming to the field where a 
battle had been fought, saw bodies preparing for the 
oven, and bleeding limbs were thrust into his face. 5 
Mr. Brown saw two long lines of ovens, where sixty 

1 Polack, ii. 56. 2 Ibid. i. 205 ; ii. 10, 11 , 44. 

3 Ibid. ii. 8. 4 Ibid. ii. 47, 56, 300, 317, 318. 

5 Evidence on New Zealand before the House of Lords, 204, 



24 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



bodies were cooked after a battle, while a lock of 
hair and a potatoe, fixed on two poles, showed that 
part of the horrid feast which had been consecrated 
to the Devil. 1 

Thus cruel to one another, they were not more 
tender than other heathens to their women and 
slaves. Polygamy here, as wherever practised, 
leads to much discord; different wives striving by 
the most malicious falsehoods, to undermine each 
other in the affections of the husband. 2 Though 
many of the women are pleasing, cheerful, patient, 
and of strong affections, yet are they subject 
to cruel treatment. The husband has power over 
the life of his wife, except as far as restrained 
by the fear of her relations, 3 and if he dies she is 
plundered of all her goods. 4 One young mother, 
when reproved by Mr. Polack for the murder of 
her infant, said, that it would only have lived to be 
ill-treated, and she wished her mother had done 
the same to her. 5 Many infants are drowned, 
strangled, or otherwise suffocated by their mothers, 
so that of all the women, having several children, 
with whom Mr. Polack was acquainted, one fourth, 
he fully believed, had committed this crime, and 
those whom he charged with it, only burst out into 
a laugh. 6 

1 Evidence on New Zealand before the House of Lords, 
204, 205. 

2 Polack, i. 376, 377, 381. 3 Ibid. ii. 55. 

4 Ibid. ii. 58. 5 Ibid. i. 381. 

6 Ibid. i. 380—382. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



25 



But, of all classes, the slaves, whose numbers are 
continually recruited by the addition of all the 
women and children taken in war, suffer the most 
severely. 1 Slavery which, wherever it exists, de- 
bases both the master and the bondsman, which 
made the Turk a tyrant, and the Greek a rogue, 
which gave to many a West Indian overseer the 
ferocity of the tiger, and to many a West Indian 
slave the dullness of the ox, and which is still the 
source of crime and misery in Asia Africa and 
America, leads in New Zealand to acts of unusual 
brutality. At Kororarika, a slave girl having com- 
mitted some trifling fault, the mistress dragged her 
by her hair, called for a hatchet, and said she should 
be devoured, but was quieted by the interference of 
Mr. Polack. 2 On the 19th of January, 1824, at 
Wangaroa, a young slave, for speaking of some 
fault of her master, was cut on the cheek and 
back, and her thumb nearly cut off. 3 Should a 
slave try to escape, any one may kill him. 4 In the 
south of the island, if one slave steals from another 
and they quarrel, both are often put to death. 5 
Very slight offences lead to the murder of slaves. 
At Wakarapa, near the mouth of the Hokianga, 
when Anscow, an European trader, was lodging for 
a night in the house of a chief, a slave girl entered, 
about 15 years old, who had absented herself two 

1 Polack, ii. 61, 105. 2 Ibid. ii. 104. 

3 Beecbam's Evidence before the House of Lords, 21 1 . 

4 Polack, ii. 107. 5 ibid, ii. 96. 

C 



26 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



days without leave. Immediately the mistress ordered 
a ruffian to kill her : and one blow of his tomahawk 
on the forehead having laid her dead, a large party 
feasted that evening on the body, and the head was 
given to the children for a plaything ! 1 When Mr. 
Earle landed on the coast, almost the first thing which 
he saw was the roasted body of a slave boy ; who had 
been just killed, because, his attention having been 
attracted by the ship in full sail, he had suffered the 
pigs to enter his master's garden. On the opposite 
coast, near Kororarika, he saw the roasted body of 
a young slave girl, who had been shot by her 
master for running away. 2 In June, 1831, when 
Mr. Polack lived near the Hokianga, Tawoa, a 
chief, on going out to shoot, ordered a slave to 
have food ready at his return ; on enteriog the 
house and finding the food not read} T , he killed her 
with a blow of his tomahawk, and then invited his 
friends to the feast. 3 

After battle these murders are multiplied. When 
Tarria, a chief of the Bay of Islands, landed at Te- 
puna, after a successful expedition to the south, three 
slaves were killed for his dinner ; Mr, Butler, of the 
Church Missionary Society, on his knees, besought 
him to spare the rest. Tarria consented, but im- 
mediately retired to a village inland, where three 
more were killed, and thus forty were successively 
sacrificed to satisfy his remorseless appetite. 4 In 

1 Polack, ii. 5, 6. 2 Earle's Residence in New Zealand. 
3 Polack, ii. 4. 4 Tbid. ii. 107, 108. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



27 



1831, during a war between the natives of Waikato 
and those of Taranaki, the latter tribe lost thirteen 
chiefs : and on the grave of each, ten slaves were 
murdered to wait on their masters in the next 
world. 1 But among the enemy there was worse 
cruelty. One man ordered a young female slave 
to heat a large oven, as he intended to make a 
feast for his friends : when it was heated, he ordered 
her to throw herself in ; and though she clasped 
his knees, and with frantic grief besought his pity, 
the relentless savage, so far from reversing his 
order, seized her with his own hands, tied her 
hands and legs, and threw her in alive. 2 

To perpetuate these horrors, children are trained 
to be, if possible, worse than their fathers. Those 
who escape being murdered in infancy, are after- 
wards treated by their parents with great kind- 
ness. 3 When eight days old, the child is bap- 
tized by a priest, a name is given to it, the 
priest mumbles a prayer, that the child may be- 
come cruel, brave, warlike, an adulterer, a mur- 
derer, a liar, and a thief ; and small stones are then 
thrust down his throat, to make his heart grow 
hard. 4 From this time they are scarcely ever con- 
trolled. 5 When Mr. Turner, of the Wesleyan 
Mission, asked the chief, Tabooa, why he did not 
correct his son, he answered, that his son would 
hang himself if he did. 6 Such instances have not 

1 Polack, ii. 319. 2 lb. ii. 320. 3 lb. i. 374. 

4 Yates' New Zealand, 83, 84. 

5 Polack, i. 374. 6 Evid, of Mr. Beecham, 211 . 

c 2 



2S 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



unfrequently occurred. Thus neglected, they ma- 
nifest an obstinacy which exceeds belief, 1 indulge 
in all wickedness, and are apt scholars, when ini- 
tiated by their parents into all the horrors of adult 
depravity. In the south, Mr. Wade saw a child 
amusing himself with the severed hand of a slaugh- 
tered chief; 2 and the children of a family near 
theHokianga, were seen, by Anscow, to roll among 
each other, like a ball, the head of a murdered 
slave. 3 

Thus profligacy, drunkenness, war, and slavery, 
with total ignorance of medicine, are continually 
sweeping multitudes to an untimely grave, while they 
keep the remainder in the lowest state of barbarism. 
Where no property is secure from the incursions of 
remorseless ruffians, and where war is the only way 
to renown and wealth, how can the arts of peace 
flourish ? Accordingly, little land is cultivated ; 
their huts, into which they creep through a small 
hole at one end, are little better than the hog-sties 
of England ; they have neither furniture, bed- 
ding, nor cooking utensils ; they never scarcely 
wash; and their filthy mats swarm with vermin. 4 
Thus, miserably degraded, they drag on a preca- 
rious existence, with none of the comforts of civi- 
lized life, and no Christian hope. Their beautiful 
island, not much less than England, with lofty 
mountains, a rich soil, transparent streams, and 



1 Polack, i. 377, 378. 

2 Evid. of Mr. Coates, 205. 3 Polack, ii. 6. 

* Evid. of Mr. Coates, 185. Evid. of Mr. Beecham, 212. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



29 



magnificent timber, its seas abounding in fish, its 
harbours and geographical position well fitted for 
commerce, instead of maintaining millions of in- 
dustrious inhabitants, has not 150,000 ; J and these 
are depraved and wretched. 

2. Tahiti. — The inhabitants of Tahiti, and the 
neighbouring islands, when first the Gospel was 
preached to them, were no less depraved than the 
New Zealanders. Pomare, the father of the king, 
was guilty of various murders. On one occasion, 
he murdered, in cold blood, two hundred defence- 
less persons, numbers of whom were women and 
children ; and after hearing the Gospel for several 
years, died a devoted idolater. 2 Idia, his wife, 
besides other murders, destroyed at least three of 
her own children; and died also with fixed oppo- 
sition to the Gospel. 3 Pomare the Second made 
war upon his father, consented to the murder of 
his ally without any provocation, offered up his 
unoffending servant as a sacrifice, remorselessly 
massacred many of his subjects, 4 and was covetous, 
drunken, and treacherous. 5 Xor were his sub- 
jects, in general, much more distinguished for 
their virtues. Women were despised and ill- 
treated; there was little conjugal fidelity; nearly 
two-thirds of the infants were murdered ; and mothers 

1 Coates' Evidence, 180. This is exclusive of the southern 
island, which is colder, and more thinly peopled. 

2 Ellis' Polynesian Researches, i. 81, 114, 125. 

3 lb. i. 81, 129. 4 lb. i. 80, 81, 111, 128, 133. 
5 lb. passim. 



30 "WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



not only committed that crime without shame or 
remorse, but would freely declare their inclina- 
tion to commit it, and would speak of its accom- 
plishment with brutal insensibility. 1 Of course, 
where there was no principle whatever to restrain 
their passions, they were utterly vicious. 2 The 
chiefs, who could afford it, drank an intoxicating 
liquor, called Ava, till it covered them with 
loathsome sores ; and when Europeans imported 
spirits, drunkenness, with all the demoralization 
crime and misery which follow in its train, became 
almost universal. 3 Though they regarded theft 
as a crime, 4 they were very generally thieves; 5 and 
sometimes chiefs would employ their servants to 
steal for them. 6 Their wars were frequent ; and, 
though excited by trivial causes, were sanguinary 
and ferocious. The victors murdered their pri- 
soners, stamped on their bodies, reviled them 
though dead, and tore them to pieces. Then they 
plundered their property, burned their houses, and 
laid waste their plantations. 7 " Invention itself 
was tortured to find out new or varied modes of 
inflicting suffering; and the total extermination of 
their enemies, with the desolation of a country, 
was often the avowed object of the war. This de- 
sign, horrid as it is, has been literally accomplished : 
every inhabitant of an island, excepting the few 

1 Ellis, i. 82, 332—334. 2 lb. i. 132 ; ii. 67, 359, 379. 
s lb. ii. 34. 4 lb. ii. 370, 371. 

5 lb. ii. 326. 6 lb. ii. 371. 

' lb. i. 109 — 116, 133, 133, 241 ; ii. 493, 507. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



31 



that may have escaped by flight in their canoes, 
has been slaughtered ; the bread-fruit trees have 
been cut down, and left to rot; the cocoa-nut trees 
have been killed by cutting off their tops or crown, 
and leaving the stems in desolate leafless ranks, 
as if they had been shivered by .the lightning." 1 
" When the murder and destruction of actual con- 
flict terminated, and the vanquished sought se- 
curity in flight, or in the natural strong-holds of 
the mountains, some of their conquerors pursued 
them to their hiding-places ; while others repaired 
to the villages, and destroyed the wives, children, 
infirm and afflicted relatives, of those who had fled 
before them in the field. These defenceless wretches 
seldom made much resistance to the lawless and 
merciless barbarians, whose conduct betrayed a 
cowardly delight in torturing their helpless victims. 
Plunder and revenge were the principal objects 
in these expeditions. Every thing valuable they 
destroyed, or bore away, while the miserable objects 
of their vengeance were deliberately murdered. 
Xo age or sex was spared. The infant that uncon- 
sciously smiled in its mother's arms, and the vene- 
rable grey-haired father or mother, experienced 
unbridled and horrid barbarity. The aged were 
at once despatched, though embowelling and every 
horrid torture was practised. The females expe- 
rienced brutality and murder, and the tenderest 
infants were, perhaps, transfixed to the mother's 



1 Ellis, ii. 494. 



32 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



heart by a ruthless weapon, caught up by ruffian 
hands, and dashed against the rocks or the trees, 
or wantonly thrown up in the air, and caught on 
the point of the warrior's spear, where it writhed 
in agony, and died. A spear was sometimes thrust 
through the infant's head from ear to ear, a line 
passed through the aperture, and, when the horrid 
carnage has been over, and the kindling brand 
has been applied to the dwellings, while the flames 
have crackled, the dense columns of smoke as- 
cended, and the ashes mingled with the blood from 
the victims, the cruel warriors have retired with 
fiendish exultation, some bearing the spoils of plun- 
der, some having two or three infants hanging on the 
spear they bore across their shoulders, and others 
dragging along the sand those that were strung- 
together by a line through their heads, or a cord 
round their necks." 1 These horrible practices were 
not in defiance of the maxims of their religion, but 
quite in accordance with them. The most sacred 
class in the community, the Areois, consecrated to 
the gods, were also the most corrupt. Two of 
their chief idols were Oro, the god of war, and 
Hiro, the god of thieves. The latter was invoked to 
aid them when engaged in stealing, and the former 
was propitiated with human sacrifices, when they 
entered on their expeditions of plunder and re- 
venge. 2 

1 Ellis, ii. 503, 504. 

2 lb. i. 108, 110, 120, 128, 497 ; ii. 195, 326, 371. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



33 



It is a mockery of human misery, and insulting 
to a holy God, to suppose that such persons can he 
admitted to his favour: and to argue that the 
Gospel is unnecessary for the heathen, because 
they may he saved without it. 

3. Hindoos. — But let us next examine the condi- 
tion of those heathen nations which have a degree 
of civilization. For this purpose, we may properly 
select the Hindoos, because they form so large 
a portion of the heathen world, because they are 
our fellow-subjects, because extensive missions are 
now established among them, because we are well 
acquainted with their state, and because they pre- 
sent no unfavourable specimen of heathenism. 
More civilized than many other heathen nations, 
they are not more corrupted ; nor could the Malays 
or the Birmans, the Cingalese or the people of 
Madagascar, be compared with them to their disad- 
vantage. Now what prospect have they for eter- 
nity ? Good principles are to be found, indeed, 
in their Shasters ; in their manners they are gene- 
rally mild, they have an attractive courtesy, some 
of them display intelligence, and some have strong 
parental affection : but all this is combined in them 
with odious superstition, with detestable selfishness, 
and with almost universal profligacy. 

In vain should we look among their two hundred 
millions, for any love towards the Supreme Being, 
any enlightened views of duty, any tenderness of 
conscience, any hatred of impurity, any justice 
truth and benevolence. Nor can we expect it ; for 

c 3 



34 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



all those things which usually tend to elevate and 
purify a Christian nation, only serve to mark their 
debasement, and to confirm their wickedness. Their 
gods, their sacred books, their priests, their worship, 
their religious customs, and even their expectations 
respecting a future state, all tend to vitiate and 
destroy them. The deities, who are the objects 
of their adoration, the sources of their hope and 
faith, supposed to be the witnesses of their conduct, 
and the arbiters of their fate, in whose honour 
innumerable fanes are erected, to whom are as- 
cribed astonishing miracles, who have been adored 
by unnumbered generations, and who are praised 
by countless millions, are monsters of iniquity, 
models of misconduct, personifications of vice, 
whose characters are as detestable as their images 
are hideous. 

Brahma, the supposed creator, is a drunkard, 
a liar, a thief, and otherwise scandalously vicious, 
lost one of his five heads in a quarrel with Shiva, 
and was cursed by the other gods. 1 Vishnoo, the 
preserver, has two wives, 2 who are constantly quar- 
relling. 3 Shiva, the destroyer, is represented with 
eyes inflamed from smoking intoxicating herbs, 4 
and quarrelling with his wife Doorga, 5 because of 
his revels. 6 India, the king of heaven, with a vast 

1 Ward's View of the Hindoos. London, 1822; iii. 24, 26. 
Mill's History of India. Third Edition ; i. 313. 

2 Ward, iii. 9. 3 lb. i. 133. Introduction. 
4 lb. iii. 11, 12. 5 lb. i. 79. Introduction. 
6 lb. iii. 24, 



ARE HEEDFUL. 



35 



harem, 1 was infamous for profligacy. 2 Yarua, the 
judge of the dead, in a passion, kicked his mother, 
and was cursed by her, by which he got a swelled 
leg, which the worms are constantly devouring. 3 
Ugnee, the god of fire, and Soorya, are also de- 
clared to be vicious.- 1 Soorya had his teeth 
knocked out by a giant. 5 Pavana, the god of 
the winds, Yaroona, the god of the waters, and 
Yrihaspatee, the spiritual guide of the gods, are all 
vicious. 6 Krishna, who is, according to Sir Wil- 
liam Jones, " the darling god of the Indian women," 
whom a great proportion of Hindoos of Bengal 
worship with enthusiasm, 7 has eight wives and a 
mistress, is a murderer, liar, and thief ; 8 and his 
thefts, wars, and adulteries are so numerous, that 
his whole history seems to be one uninterrupted 
series of crimes. 9 

Juggernaut is thought to be pleased with the 
licentious songs of his worshippers, and the agony 
of wretches crushed under the wheels of his car ; 
Doorga quarrels with her husband Shiva, and is 
worshipped with obscene rites ; IQ and Kalee, another 
form of Doorga, wears two dead bodies for ear-rings, 
with a necklace of sculls, her hair is dishevelled, her 

1 Ward, iii. 143. 2 lb. i. 80. Introduction. 

3 lb i. 133. Introduction. 

4 lb. i. 133. Introduction. Ib. iii. 35. 

5 Ib. iii. 35. e T D . iii. 48, 49, 68. 

7 Ib. i. 90. Introduction. Ib. iii. 149. Mill, i. 308. 

8 Ib. iii. 154. 9 Ib. i. 133. Introduction. 
v Ib.i.87. Introduction. Ib. iii. 83. 

c4 



36 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



protruding tongue hangs down to her chin, severed 
hands form her girdle, her eye-brows are bloody, 
her eyes red, blood is flowing down her breast, 
and her whole aspect is that of a drunken fury : 
the blood of a man pleases her for a thousand 
years, and the sacrifice of three men for a hun- 
dred thousand years ; she is also pleased when her 
worshippers offer her some of their own blood, or 
pieces of their own flesh, or swing by hooks fastened 
into the muscles of their backs in her honour; 
and she is the protectress of thieves, who intreat her 
to aid them in their villainy. 1 Such is the cha- 
racter of the principal Hindoo deities, nor among 
the three hundred and thirty millions whom they 
adore, is there one represented as virtuous. 2 

These characters and crimes of their gods, are 
detailed in their Vidas, Puranas, and other 
Shasters, in which they look in vain for any 
valuable instruction, or any incentive to virtue. 3 
<c Even those inquirers who have been least 
aware of the grossness of the Hindu religion, have 
seen that wretched ceremonies constituted almost 
the whole of its practical part. The precepts, 
which are lavished upon its ceremonies, bury in 
their exorbitant mass the pittance bestowed upon 
all other duties taken together. On all occasions 

J Ward, i. 88. Introduction. Ib. iii. 108, 112. 

2 Ib.i. 76, 97. Introduction. They have 33 crore; a crore is 
100 lacs, and a lac is 100,000. Mill, i. 285. 

3 Ibid. i. 101. Introduction. Mill, i. 298. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



37 



ceremonies meet the attention as the pre-eminent 
duties of the Hindu. The holiest man is always 
he, by whom the ceremonies of his religion are 
most strictly performed. Never among any other 
people did the ceremonial part of religion prevail 
over the moral to a greater, probably to an equal 
extent. Of the many rules of conduct prescribed 
to the householder, almost the whole concern re- 
ligious observances. Beside the general strain of 
the holy text, many positive declarations ascribe 
infinite superiority to rites and ceremonies above 
morality." 1 "In translating," says Mr. Ward, 
" some parts of the Hindoo writings with a 
learned bramhin who assisted the author, this 
bramhin was himself almost covered with shame : 
he hesitated, faultered, and while giving the 
meaning of various passages of his own Shas- 
trus, was thrown into great agitation. Multi- 
tudes of fables and scenes are found in the most 
chaste of the Hindoo writings, belonging to the 
histories of their gods and ancient sages, that are 
disgusting beyond all utterance." 2 Of course the 
worship of these demons of the imagination must 
be like themselves, cruel and licentious, for such 
only can be pleasing to them. 

At the public festivals in honour of their gods, 
the histories of their quarrels and crimes are re- 
cited, by which their vices are held up to the imi- 

1 Mill, i. 342, 343. 

2 Ward,i. 37, 38. Preface. 



38 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



tation of the whole community. 1 Thus inspired, 
the worshippers emulate their prodigious wicked- 
ness ; each temple has its abandoned women ; 
Obscene figures are painted on the walls ; ob- 
scene songs are sung in honour of the idol ; and 
the songs and dances in their public worship 
would be esteemed disgraceful by the worst bac- 
chanals in Europe. 2 " Thus, that which to the 
Hindoo should be divine worship, is the great 
source of impiety and corruption of manners: and, 
instead of returning from his temple, or from re- 
ligious services, improved in knowledge, grieved 
for his moral deficiencies, and anxious to culti- 
vate a greater regard to the interests of morality 
and religion, his passions are inflamed, and his 
mind polluted to such a degree, that he carries the 
pernicious lessons of the temple, or the festival, 
into all the walks of private life. His very religion 
becomes his greatest bane, and where he should 
have drank of the water of life, he swallows the 
poison that infallibly destroys him." 3 Nor is 
Hindoo worship less cruel than it is impure. The 
Hindoo saint, who would attain to the highest 
merit, is to repair to a forest, leaving all his pro- 
perty, and breaking loose from all worldly ties ; 
there he is to suffer his hair and nails to grow un- 
checked, and then attend to the following direc- 
tions : " Let him slide backwards and forwards on 

1 Ward, i. 101. Introduction. 2 Ibid. i. 38. Preface. 
9 Ibid. i. 105. Introduction. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 39 

the ground ; or let him stand a whole day on tip- 
toe ; or let him continue in motion rising and 
sitting alternately; but at sunrise, at noon, and 
at sunset, let him go to the waters, and bathe. In 
the hot season let him sit exposed to fire fires, 
four blazing around him, with the sun above ; in 
the rains let him stand uncovered, without even 
a mantle, where the clouds pour the heaviest 
showers ; in the cold season, let him wear humid 
vesture; and enduring harsher and harsher mor- 
tifications, let him dry up his bodily frame. Let 
him live without external fire, without a mansion, 
wholly silent ; feeding on roots and fruit, sleeping 
on the bare earth, dwelling at the roots of trees." 
" In conformity with these rales, some Fakirs keep 
their hands closed, till they are pierced through 
by the growth of the nails. Others hold them 
above their heads, till the power of the arms is 
extinguished. They make vows to remain in the 
standing posture for years. Three men were seen 
by Fryer, whose vow extended to sixteen years. 
One of them had completed his dreadful penance ; 
of the rest, one had passed five years in torment, 
the other three. Their legs were prodigiously 
swelled, and deeply ulcerated, and became at last 
too weak to support their bodies ; when they leaned 
on a pillow suspended from a tree. Others, 
turning their heads to gaze at the heaven over 
their shoulder, remain fixed in that posture, till 



1 Mill, i. 351, 352. 



40 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 

the head can no longer be restored to its natural 
position, and no aliment, except in the liquid state, 
can pass down their throats." 

" The ceremony, commanded by Menu, ' of sit- 
ting in the hot season between four fires,' cannot 
be conceived without horror. A Yogee, or peni- 
tent, actually seen by Fryer, had resolved to un- 
dergo this penance for forty days, at a public 
festival, where an immense concourse of spec- 
tators were assembled. Early on the morning, 
after having seated himself on a quadrangular 
stage, he fell prostrate, and continued fervent in his 
devotions, till the sun began to have considerable 
power. He then rose, and stood on one leg, 
gazing stedfastly at the sun, while fires, each large 
enough, says the traveller, to roast an ox, were 
kindled at the four corners of the stage, the peni- 
tent counting his beads, and occasionally, with his 
pot of incense, throwing combustible materials into 
the fire to increase the flames. He next bowed 
himself do wn in the centre of the four fires, keeping 
his eyes still fixed upon the sun. Afterwards, 
placing himself upright on his head, with his feet 
elevated in the air, he stood for the extraordinary 
space of three hours, in that inverted position ; he 
then seated himself with his legs across, and thus 
remained, sustaining the raging heat of the sun 
and of the fires till the end of the day. Other 
penitents bury themselves up to the neck in the 
ground, or even wholly below it, leaving only a 
little hole through which they may breathe. They 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



41 



tear themselves with whips ; they repose on beds 
of iron spikes; they chain themselves for life to 
the foot of a tree : the wild imagination of the 
race appears, in short, to have been racked to de- 
vise a sufficient variety of fantastic modes of tor- 
menting themselves. The extent to which they 
carry the penance of fasting is almost incredible. 
They fix their eyes on the blazing sun till the power 
of vision is extinguished." 1 

Till the British Government interfered, numbers 
of widows, some of them still children, were burnt 
with the bodies of their husbands. In 1803, four 
hundred and thirty-eight were burnt within thirty 
miles of Calcutta. In 1818, according to an 
official statement, eight hundred were thus burned 
or buried in the Presidency of Bengal, and Mr. 
Ward calculated that not much fewer than three 
thousand were annually murdered. 2 

" The people in some parts of India, particu- 
larly the inhabitants of Orissa, and of the eastern 
parts of Bengal, frequently offer their children to 
the goddess Gunga. On a particular day, ap- 
pointed for bathing in any holy part of the river, 
they take the child with them, and offer it to the 
goddess: the child is encouraged to go farther and 
farther into the water till it is carried away by the 
stream, or is pushed off by its inhuman parents." 3 

In the northern districts of Bengal, "if an infant 



1 Mill, i. 352—354. 2 Ward, iii. 329, 343. 

3 Ibid. iii. 338. 



42 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



refuse the mother's breast, and decline in health, 
it is said to be under the influence of some ma- 
lignant spirit. Such a child is sometimes put into 
a basket, and hung up in a tree, where this evil 
spirit is supposed to reside. It is generally de- 
stroyed by ants or birds of prey." 1 

Encouraged by various expressions in the Shas- 
ters, which make suicide meritorious in a Shoodra, 
many drown themselves in the Ganges ; some 
willingly resigning themselves to their fate, others 
being pushed in by their relations, and some being- 
urged on by Brahmins. 2 Occasionally sick persons 

1 Ward iii. 339. " The late Mr. Thomas, a missionary, once 
saved and restored to its mother, an infant which had fallen out of 
a basket, at Bholahat, near Malda, at the moment a jackal was 
running away with it. As this gentleman and Mr. Carey were 
afterwards passing under the same tree, they found a basket 
hanging in the branches containing the skeleton of another 
infant, which had been devoured by ants. The custom is un- 
known in many places, but, it is to be feared, is too common in 
others." — lb. 

- Ibid. iii. 330—335. " Some years ago, as Shivu-Shiromunee, 
a bramhun, was returning from bathing with Kashee-nat'h, 
another bramhun, at Shantee-proru, they saw a poor old man 
sitting on the bank of the river, and asked him what he was 
doing there. He replied, that he was destitute of friends, and 
was about to renounce his life in the Ganges. Kashee-nat'h 
urged him not to delay then, if he was come to die ; but the man 
seemed to hesitate, and replied, that it was very cold. The 
bramhun (hinting to his companion that he wished to see the sport 
before he returned home,) reproached the poor trembling wretch 
for his cowardice, and seizing his hand, dragged him to the edge 
of the bank, where he made him sit down, rubbed over him the 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



48 



burn themselves to obtain a healthy body in the 
next birth : 1 and others are buried alive. The 

purifying clay of the river, and ordered him lo repeat the proper 
incantations. While he was thus, with his eyes closed, repeating 
these forms, he slipped down, and sunk into the water, which was 
very deep, and perished ! 

" Gunga-dhuru-shastree, a learned bramhun, informed me, 
that in the year 1806 he spent near two months at Pruyagu, 
during which time he saw about thirty persons drown themselves! 
Almost every day he saw or heard of one or more Sunyasees who 
thus terminated their existence. 

"At Allahabad many drown themselves every year; and at 
Vrinda-vunu many are buried alive or drowned every year, pro- 
bably every month." Ibid. iii. 332—334, 336. The process is 
thus described by a missionary : " Two Mahratta women had 
travelled to Allahabad from a great distance, to devote themselves 
to the Ganges. In vain did the missionary attempt to convince 
them of the delusion and wickedness of their purpose. After 
worshipping the river, these women entered a boat, with three 
others of the same caste; they most unfeelingly tied two earthen 
jars, filled with water, round the waist of each to make them sink, 
and saw them perish in the stream." — Peggs, 207, Note. 

1 " Another friend, in a letter written at Cutwa, in the year 1812, 
says, ' Last week I witnessed the burning of a leper. A pit 
about ten cubits in depth was dug, and a fire placed at the bottom 
of it. The poor man rolled himself into it, but instantly, on 
feeling the fire, begged to be taken out, and struggled hard for 
that purpose. His mother and sister, however, thrust him in 
again ; and thus a man, who to all appearance might have sur- 
vived several years, was cruelly burnt to death. I find that the 
practice is not uncommon in these parts.' This poor wretch 
died with the notion, that by thus purifying his body in the fire, 
he should receive a happy transmigration into a healthful body : 
whereas, if he had died by the disease, he would, after four births, 
have appeared on earth again." — Ward, in, 335. 



44 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



number thus perishing, by water, fire, or suffo- 
cation, is reckoned by Mr. Ward to be about five 
hundred annually. 1 Many men are devoutly mur- 
dered by their relations on the banks of their 
sacred rivers. Expensive journeys are made to 
conduct the sick to the banks of the river; there 
they are exposed to the burning sun, or the mouth 
and nostrils filled with mud, or they are held up 
in the river itself, and water is poured down 
their throats till they expire ; or they are left 
naked to be tormented by the insects, which soon 
cover them. Young mothers have there been left 
to perish, with their infant children at their sides. 
No entreaties of the sick person are regarded by 
his murderers. Should he revive, after being 
thought dead, he is beat down with a hatchet or 
other weapon; or should he escape this fate and 
return to his home, it is to receive the jeers and 
scoffs of his children : he is in the eye of the Hindoo 
law dead, his property has passed to the heir, and 
he is an outcast. 2, 

1 Ward, iii. 335, 343. 

2 Peggs' India's Cries to British Humanity, 170 — 181. " A 
gentleman told me, as he passed a place called Culna, a little 
above Calcutta, that he saw some brahmuns pushing a youth, of 
about eighteen years of age, into the water ; and, as they were 
performing their work of suffocation with mud, he called on them 
to desist. They answered calmly, 1 It is our custom. It is our 
custom. He cannot live; he cannot live; our god says he must 
die.' " " An aged father was brought by his children to the river 
side to die ; after having been there for some time, contrary to 
their expectation, he recovered and went home again; but his 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



45 



Various other self-inflicted tortures are supposed 
to be meritorious. At the swinging festival in 

unfeeling children, instead of rejoicing that he was spared to them 
a little longer, so tormented him by their jeers and scoffs, because 
he did not die when carried to the river side for that purpose, 
that, weary of his life, the old man at length put a period to his 
existence, by hanging himself on a tree near the public road." 
H I once witnessed one of the scenes in all its aggravations. 
The sick person was a young woman who was not willing to go 
to the river. As they approached the Ghaut her screams were 
intolerable, crying, 4 Ame morey jay na,' (I am not dying !) 
but the men who had taken her were firm to their purpose, and 
would not listen to any thing that was said to them. They 
laughed at my entreaties ; turned a deaf ear to my threats ; and 
rushed forward into the water with their victim : a few cups of 
water poured down her throat, in the name of their gods, stopped 
her breath." "I found a poor old man one morning by the 
river side, who had been left there all night. Those who had 
taken him, had rubbed his body with mud, and had left him quite 
naked, exposed to the ants ; so that he was completely covered 
with insects." " In my way down from the Upper Provinces, 
says a correspondent of the Colombian Press Gazette, my budgerow 
stopped at Ghaut, on the Hooghly River, in the vicinity of 
Moorshedabad— a poor helpless creature was stretched on a cot, the 
lower part of his body being immersed in water. In this pos- 
ture he was imploring his murderers in the most pitiful manner to 
let him go, declaring that he was yet far from death ! To hear his 
supplications, and observe the forlorn expression of his coun- 
tenance, were enough to strike any heart with horror and pity. 
But these cruel wretches that were about him, unmindful of his 
entreaties, kept crying ' Hurree bol ! Hurree bol !' and continued 
filling his mouth with water, till at length the poor creature 
became exhausted ; his voice, which was at first loud, gradually 
sunk, and he fell an unwilling victim to superstition." " I wit- 
nessed an instance where a diseased mother was exposed, with one 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



Bengal in honour of the god Shivu, " multitudes of 
young men are, one by one, swung in the air, 
suspended by hooks thrust through the flesh of 
their backs; each one remaining thus suspended 
for at least fifteen minutes. Others have a long 
slit cut through their tongues, or have their sides 
perforated, and cords put under the skin, and 
drawn backwards and forwards, while the devotee 
himself dances through the streets. Some throw 
themselves on open knives, from a height of ten 

infant at the breast, and another about two years of age, with no 
visible disease. We had landed to dig a grave, and bury an officer 
who died in the night, and when I returned to the ship, I could not 
eat my dinner, in consequence of the loathsome sight of two babes 
writhing about their mother, expiring of the cholera morbus. 
Going next day to examine if the jackals had torn up the officer's 
grave, I observed the elder babe dead, the younger crawling about 
it, and the mother had been devoured! Being anxious to know 
the fate of the surviving infant, I went next day, and found it had 
crawled under the bottom of a boat, and the dead child had 
disappeared. Next morning the other had been devoured also." — 
Peggs, 172, 175, 177 — 181. 

" Although in some instances, persons thus left on the banks of 
the river to die have recovered, yet they have never been received 
into the bosom of their families, or permitted to associate with 
their former friends, but have been looked upon as outcasts or 
Pariahs, and losing caste, they have in vain endeavoured to find 
an entrance into society in a strange place. There is a small 
village wholly inhabited by such persons on the banks of the 
Hooghley near Jungipoor, and they stated to me that they enjoyed 
far more real comfort than they did when in full caste, but it was 
evident by their appearance that they were a poor, dejected, 
comfortless people." — Statham's Indian Recollections, 79. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



47 



feet, and in some cases are pierced to death on the 
spot. At the close of the festival, these miserable 
slaves of superstition dance with their bare feet on 
burning coals." 1 At the Churruck Poojah, in honour 
of the goddess Khali, besides this swing-in a- bv 
hooks, numerous devotees attend, some with spits 
through their tongues, some with living snakes 
instead of the spits, and some with burning coals, 
placed in pans near their bodies. 2 

A more dreadful torture awaits some of the wor- 
shippers of Juggernaut. At the temple of this idol, 
in Orissa, several persons are said to be crushed to 
death annually under the wheels of the idol-car, to 
please the imaginary demon. 3 Only a few infa- 
tuated wretches, indeed, perish in this way, but 
many die on the pilgrimage. Pilgrims come from 
all parts of India; 4 and numbers die on the road. 5 
" The aged, the weak, the sick, are persuaded to 
attempt the pilgrimage, as a remedy for all evils. 
The number of women and children, also, is very 
great. The pilgrims leave their families and occu- 
pations, to travel an immense distance, with the 

1 Ward, i. 42. Preface. 2 Statham, 119—121. 

"At a village close by Sulkea, one of the persons, whilst 
swinging, desired a large piece of wood to be handed up to him : 
this was done, when grasping it in his arms, he requested to be 
swung round again ; but from the increased weight, the ligaments 
of his back gave way, and he was hurled to a great distance, and 
killed on the spot." — Ibid. 120. 

Ward, iii. 347, 348. * Ibid. i. 91. Introduction. 

5 Peggs, 121. 



48 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 

delusive hope of obtaining eternal bliss. Their 
means of subsistence on the road are scanty ; and 
their light clothing and little bodily strength are 
ill calculated to encounter the inclemency of the 
weather. When they reach the district of Cuttack, 
they cease to experience that hospitality shown 
elsewhere to pilgrims, it being a burden which the 
inhabitants could not sustain: and they prefer, 
availing themselves of the increased demand for 
provisions, to augment the price. This difficulty is 
more severely felt as they approach the temple ; 
till they find scarcely enough left to pay the tax to 
Government, and satisfy the rapacious brahmins. 
But the pilgrims, on leaving J uggernaut, having still 
long journeys before them, while their means of 
support are often almost, if not quite, exhausted, 
the work of death then becomes rapid ; and their 
route may be traced, by the bones left by beasts and 
birds of prey. The country near the temple, seems 
suddenly to have been visited by pestilence and 
famine : dead bodies are seen in every direction ; 
while Parriar dogs, jackals, and vultures, are 
observed watching the last moments of the dying 
pilgrim, and not unfrequently hastening his fate." 1 

1 Peggs, 122, 123. 
" The evening before last, having mounted my horse and 
whistled them about me, I started with the intention of running a 
fox, if I could find one. I had scarcely proceeded a hundred 
yards from my house, when my horse started at something rolled 
up in a mat, lying under a tree, by the side of the road. As there 
were numbers of people passing, who took no notice of it, I 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



415 



In 1822, a military officer observed twenty-five 
dead bodies on one acre of ground. In 1823, Mr. 

thought it could be nothing of consequence enough to require me 
to dismount, so I passed on ; and, after having had my ride, and 
killed a jackal, I returned home. About ten o'clock next 
morning, my bearer informed me that a traveller, oppressed with 
age, and wearied with his journey, was lying under a tree a short 
distance off, and was just about to die: 'and; added he in a tone 
of the most perfect unconcern, ' he has been lying therefor several 
days, without any thing to eat or drink, so he cannot live more than 
a day!' Having put on my clothes as hastily as I could, I 
repaired to the spot, and to my astonishment found that what I 
had taken for a bundle of wood or grass was nothing less than a 
man. At first sight it appeared to me that he was totally stiff 
and dead ; but, on turning him round, I found that life was not 
extinct, and that possibly something might yet be done to recal 
the parting spirit. I accordingly had him borne to my house, 
and with considerable difficulty I forced some medicine down his 
throat; by degrees he recovered so far as to make known to me 
that, having gone on a pilgrimage to the temple of Juggernaut, he 
was returning to his home at Moorshedabad, when he was seized 
with an illness which day by day increased : that, his money being 
spent, he had been eleven days without tasting food ; and that, 
not being able to advance farther than the place in which I found 

him, he had been left there by his friend In this case, 

two persons set out together from Moorshedabad to Juggernaut. 
The one is seventy years of age, the other a young man in full 
health. On their way back the old man fell sick ; and, although 
his friend has been making this pilgrimage for the sake of his 
salvation, and trying to make his peace with his gods, yet he 
hesitates not to leave his sick companion to die as he may, and 
become food for dogs; and, when he returns to Moorshedabad, 
he, no doubt, thinks that he has washed away all the sins of his 
former life, by the merit of a pilgrimage to a shrine polluted with 
human blood ! . . . . The fate of the poor wretch I hope to 

D 



50 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



Bampton, Missionary, wrote, " In front of one of 
the cars lay the mangled body of a dead man, one 
arm and one leg were eaten, and two dogs were 
then eating him ; many people were near, but they 
did not seem to take any notice of the circum- 
stance I" 1 In 1825, Mr. Peggs counted thirty-seven 
bodies or skeletons, on the last stage of the road 
from Cuttack to Juggernaut. 2 

The Ruth Jattra, of the same year, was thus 
described by Mr. Lacey : " In every street, corner, 
and open space, in fact wherever you turned your 
eyes, the dead and dying met your sight ! On the 
evening of the 19th (June, 1825,) I counted upwards 
of sixty dead and dying, from the temple down to 
the bottom end of the hospital (about half a mile,) 
leaving out the sick, that had not much life. At a 
corner, opposite the hospital, on a spot of ground 
twelve feet square, I counted ten dead and five 
sick! This was the case, while there were several 
sets of men in active employ burying the dead! 
You will think, if the streets were thus crowded, 
what must be the various Golgothas! I visited but 
one, and that was between the town and the prin- 
cipal entrance; and I saw sights I shall never 
forget. The small river there was quite glutted 

serve is the fate of thousands. Immense numbers of those who 
leave their houses in these pilgrimages, leave them never to return. 
. . . This is the religion of those who have been so often called 
the mild Hindoos." — Calcutta Taper, July 5, 1825, in Peggs, 
183, 189. 

1 Peggs, 123. 2 Ibid. 125. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



51 



with dead bodies. The wind had drifted them 
together, and they were a complete mass of putrified 
flesh ! ! They also lay upon the ground in heaps, 
and the dogs and birds were able to do little to- 
wards devouring them." 1 

Yet though the deities, the shasters, and the wor- 
ship, are all thus corrupt, the brahmins might still 
have it in their power to moralize and improve the 
people. It is believed that they came forth from 
the head of Brumhu ; that religion, in all its offices 
and benefits, must proceed from them ; that they 
are the mouths of the gods ; and that they hold the 
destinies of men at their disposal. As he passes 
through the streets, the shoodra sees every hand 
raised to do them homage ; he observes peojDle 
running after them with cups of water in their 
hands, soliciting the honour of drinking this water 
after they have condescended to dip their foot in it ; 
and finally, he hears from the sacred books, and 
from the lips of thousands, the most wonderful ac- 
counts of the divine power committed to them. 2 

But, unhappily, all their influence and authority 
is employed by them for evil, not for good. The 
Abbe Dubois, always the apologist of the Hindoos 
when he can be, and sometimes at the expense of 
truth, has ascribed to them no amiable character. 
" The Brahman lives but for himself. Bred in the 
belief that the whole world is his debtor, and that 
he himself is called upon for no return, he conducts 



! Peggs, 124. 



2 Ward, i. 29, 30. Preface. 

D 2 



52 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



himself, in every circumstance of his life, with the 
most absolute selfishness. The feelings of commi- 
seration and pity, as far as respects the sufferings 
of others, never enter into his heart. He will see 
an unhappy being perish on the road, or even at his 
own gate, if belonging to another caste; and will 
not stir to help him to a drop of water, though it 
were to save his life. He has been taught from his 
infancy to regard all other classes of men with, the 
utmost contempt, as beings created for the purpose 
of serving him, and supplying all his wants; without 
any reciprocal duty on his part, to show his gratitude, 
or make any other return. Such are the principles 
on which the education of the Brahmans is inva- 
riably and universally founded. And, after such a 
description, shall we be at all surprised at their 
haughtiness, their pride and self-love, or at their 
contempt of all other men, of whom they never 
speak amongst themselves without the addition of 
some ignominious epithet or expression of scorn?" 1 
Thus exalted by their superstitious creed, they prey 
upon the inferior castes. " At the birth of a child ; 
when the child is a few days old ; again when it is 
six months old ; when two years old ; again at 
eight or nine ; and again at marriage ; levies are 
made by a bramhun ; in sickness, the bramhun is 
paid for repeating forms for the restoration of the 
patient; after death, his son must perform the 
shraddhu, the offerings and fees at which are given 



1 Description of India by the Abbe Dubois, 196, 197. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



53 



to the brainhuns, twelve times during the first year, 
and then annually; if a shoodru meet with a mis- 
fortune, he must pay a bramhun to read incan- 
tations for its removal ; if his cow die, he must call 
a bramhun to make an atonement; if he lose a piece 
of gold, he must do the same; if a vulture have 
settled on his house, he must pay a bramhun to 
purify his dwelling ; if he go into a new house, he 
must pay a bramhun to purify it ; if a shoodru die 
on an unlucky day, his son must employ a bramhun 
to remove the evil effects of this circumstance; if 
he cut a pool or a well, he must pay a bramhun to 
consecrate it; if he dedicate to public uses a 
temple, or trees, he must do the same ; at the time 
of an eclipse, the bramhun is employed and paid ; 
on certain lunar days, the shoodru must present 
gifts to bramhuns ; during the year, about forty 
ceremonies are performed, called vrutus, when the 
bramhuns are feasted, and receive fees ; when a 
person supposes himself to be under the influence 
of an evil planet, he must call four bramhuns to 
offer a sacrifice; a number of vows are made, on 
all which occasions bramhuns are employed and 
paid ; at the birth of a child, the worship of 
Shushtee is performed, when bramhuns are feasted ; 
at the time of small pox, a ceremony is performed 
by the bramhuns ; they are paid for assisting the 
people to fast ; to remove cutaneous disorders, the 
bramhuns pray to one of the goddesses, and receive 
a fee; bramhuns are employed daily to offer worship 
to the family god of the shoodru ; the farmer dares 



54 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



not reap his harvest without paying a bramhun to 
perform some ceremony ; a tradesman cannot begin 
business, without a fee to a bramhun ; a fisherman 
cannot build a new boat, nor begin to fish in a spot 
which he has farmed, without a ceremony and a 
fee ; nearly a hundred different festivals are held 
during the year, at which bramhuns are entertained, 
and, in some villages, feasts are celebrated at a 
hundred houses at once." 1 "Thus every form and 
ceremony of religion — all the public festivals — all 
the accidents and concerns of life — the revolutions 
of the heavenly bodies — the superstitious fears of 
the people — births — sicknesses — marriages — mis- 
fortunes — death — a future state, &c, have all been 
seized as sources of revenue to the bramhuns ; in 
short, from the time of a shoodru's birth, to his 
deliverance from purgatory by the bramhuns at 
Gunga, he is considered as the lawful prey of the 
bramhuns, whose blessing raises him to heaven, or 
whose curse sinks him into torments; — and thus 3 
their popular stories, their manners, and their very 
laws, tend at once to establish the most complete 
system of absolute oppression that perhaps ever 
existed." 2 

Above labour, feed for imposture, 3 the advocates 

1 Ward, i. 69, 70. 2 Ibid. i. 71. 

3 " I have seen Juggernutha, a Brahmin of high caste, em- 
ployed as superintendent in a dock-yard at Howrah, oftentimes 
dip his toe into a little water, which a prostrate Soodra has held 
before him, thereby imparting (in the estimation of the wor- 
shipper) a saving nature unto it: the poor creature, after drinking 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



55 



of a legendary faith, and the officiating priests of 
an obscene ritual, the Brahmins have naturally 
become pre-eminently vicious. 

" Many of the Kooleena Brahmins, who are the 
highest order, make a trade of their polygamy. 
At their marriages they obtain large presents, and 

it in the most devout manner, has again prostrated himself before 
him, and retired with an idea that his sins have been cancelled by 
the deed. I have said, ' Juggernutha, how can you thus trifle 
with the souls of your fellow-creatures ? you know there can be 
no virtue in your toe to make the water otherwise than it was 
before ; you are a man of sense, and should rather strive to un- 
deceive your fellow-countrymen, than endeavour to perpetuate 
their cruel bondage/ ' Why Sahib,' he has replied, < it is our 
custom, and the poor things like it, and the time is not come yet, 
Sahib ; but by and bye we shall all be one caste, Sahib ; and if I 
don't do it, another Brahmin will, so it makes no difference in the 
end, Sahib.' In this way he would endeavour to turn away the 
subject, and the next hour he probably would perform the same 
ceremony to many who were waiting his coming out of the gates.'' 
— Statham, 70, 71. — "I had once a long conversation on the 
subject of religion, with two Brahmans, who came to visit me. 
They were of that sort who live on the popular credulity. Our 
conference ended by their frankly confessing the truth of the 
maxims of the Christian religion, and its excellence when com- 
pared with the absurdities of Paganism. 'What you say/ they 
repeated to me, over and over again, with the appearance of 
conviction : ' What you say is true.' ' Well V I answered, ' if 
what I say is true, that which you teach to your people must be 
false ; and you are no better than impostors.' ' That is true also,' 
they replied : ' we lie, because we gain our bread by it ; and, if 
we preached to our people such truths as you have now inculcated 
so fully, we should have nothing to put in our stomachs.' " — 
Dubois, 178. 



56 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



their wives remaining with their own parents, at 
every visit to each wife they expect new presents, 
and thus, marrying into forty or fifty families, they 
visit from house to house, and are fed and clothed 
by these contributions : but the children of these 
marriages they never own. A great proportion of 
the chief Dakaits (or plunderers) are brahmins i" 1 
one of the most abominable of the Hindoo sects 
are the Vamacharees; and many of this sect are 
brahmins : 2 brahmins furnish the temple with their 
courtesans; brahmins applaud the songs and dances 
at their festivals : brahmins have often held down 
the shrieking women on the burning pile ; brah- 
mins have choked the sick with the mud of the 
Ganges; and brahmins have aided to drown the 
infatuated devotee. 3 

1 "I am informed, that in one day ten bramhuns were hanged 
at Dinagepore as robbers, and I doubt not, the well known 
remark of Governor Holwell is, in substance, true : ' During 
almost five years that we presided in the Judicial Cutchery Court 
of Calcutta, never any murder or other atrocious crime came 
before us, but it was proved in the end a bramhun was at the 
bottom of it.' " — Ward, i. 83. 

2 lb. iii. 195. 

3 " Captain , now in England, but who resided in India 

for a very long period, while resident at Allahabad, saw, as he sat 
at his own window one morning, sixteen females drown themselves. 
He sat till a thrill of horror seized him, which nearly reduced him 
to a state of sickness, otherwise he might have continued longer, 
and seen more of these immolations. Each of these women had a 
large empty earthen pan slung by a cord over each shoulder; a 
bramhun supported each as she went over the side of the boat, 
and held her up till she, by turning the pan aside, had filled it, 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



■57 



This vile superstition, upheld and enforced by 
such a priesthood, has borne its natural fruits. 
" Receiving no favourable moral impressions either 
from his parents, his education, or from the state 
of manners around him, the Hindoo enters upon 
the business of life with all his natural cupidity 
completely unrestrained. How unprepared to mix 
in a society where pride, avarice, deceit, falsehood, 
and impurity receive a boundless license ; and 
where neither manners nor institutions exist to 
oppose the general and putrid inundation! Some 
persons have complimented the Hindoos as a vir- 
tuous people ; but how should virtue exist amongst 
a people whose sacred writings encourage false- 
hood, revenge, and impurity — whose gods were 
monsters of vice — to whose sages are attributed the 
most brutal indulgence in cruelty, revenge, lust 

when he let her go, and she sunk, a few bubbles of air only rising 
to the surface of the water. While Dr. Robinson, late of Calcutta, 
resided at the same place, twelve men went in boats to drown 
themselves in the same spot. Each of these men had a piece of 
bamboo fastened to his body, at each end of which was suspended 
a large earthen pan. While these remained empty, they served as 
bladders to keep them upon the surface of the water, but each 
man, with a cup, placed now in one hand and then in the other, 
kept filling the pans from the river, and, as soon as full, they 
dragged their victim to the bottom. One of the twelve changed 
his resolution, and made to the shore ; the bramhuns who were 
assisting in these immolations plied their oars with all their mio-ht, 
and followed their victim, resolving to compel him to fulfil his 
engagement, but he gained a police station, and disappointed 
them."— Ward, i. 24, 25. Preface. 

D 3 



58 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



and pride — whose priests endeavour to copy these 
abominable examples — and whose very institutions 
are the hot-beds of impurity ? If the religious insti- 
tutions of a country be the prime sources of corrup- 
tion, how should the people be virtuous? Is there 
such a strong bias in human nature to virtue, that a 
man will be pure in spite of the example of his gods, 
his priests, and the whole body of his countrymen, 
and when the very services in his temple present the 
most fascinating temptations to impurity V 1 Like 
their gods and their priests, the Hindoos are vicious, 
cruel, lying, and dishonest. " Fidelity to marriage 
vows is almost unknown among them;" and " vice 
like a mighty torrent, flows through the plains of 
Bengal, carrying along with it young and old, the 
learned and the ignorant, rich and poor, all castes 
and descriptions of people — into an awful eternity." 2 
Mere children " are united in wedlock with as much 
indifference as cattle are yoked together ; matri- 
mony becomes a mere matter of traffic, and chil- 
dren are disposed of according to the pride of 
parents, without the parties, who are to live to- 
gether till death, having either choice or concern 
in the business. These very early marriages are 
the sources of the most enormous evils : these pairs, 
brought together without previous attachment, or 
even their own consent, are seldom hapjDy. This 
leads men into unlawful connexions, so common in 
Bengal, that three parts of the married population, 
I am informed, keep concubines. Many never 

1 Ward, i. 36, 37. Preface. 2 lb. i. 139. Introduction. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



59 



visit, nor take their wives from the house of the 
father-in-law, but they remain there, a burthen and 
disgrace to their parents ; or, they abandon the 
paternal roof at the call of some paramour." 1 

As to the men, they are under little restraint 
from moral considerations. " Licentious connections 
are most common, though subsisting apparently 
without that intoxication of passion which hurries 
on the mind against conviction, and carried on 
without much concealment, nay, almost with the 
insensibility of brutes. On such points, the Hindoos 
seem to advert to no rule except what the law 
enjoins; there is no sentiment, diffused at large 
through society, which attaches shame to crimi- 
nality." 2 

Superstition, acting upon the depravity of our 
fallen nature, has made them as cruel as they are 
licentious. Their women, that they may be more 
obedient slaves, are kept in utter ignorance. Fifty 
millions of females in India are unable to read and 
write. Their fingers never touch a needle, a pair 
of scissars, a pen, a book. " To marry, or to buy 
a wife, are synonymous terms in this country. 
Almost every parent makes his daughter an article 
of traffic, obstinately refusing to give her up to her 
lawful husband until he has rigorously paid down 
the sum of money which he was bound for." 3 At 



1 Ward, i. 167. See p. 288. Introduction, 79,80. 

2 Charles Grant in Ward, i. 312. 

3 Dubois, 137. 

D 4 



60 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 

seven or eight years old a girl is married without 
her choice: after the ceremony she returns home 
till she shall be called to live with her husband. 
" During this time, perhaps, he dies ; and if she 
is not burnt with his body, she is doomed to remain 
a widow all her days." Should she, however, live 
to become a mother, " she cannot be the companion 
of her husband, nor can she educate her offspring. 
She remains little better than a mere drudge in 
her family. She is interdicted all intercourse with 
the other sex ; she never sits with her husband in 
public company; she never eats with him; but 
prepares his food, waits upon him, and then par- 
takes of what he leaves." 1 " A state of depen- 
dance more strict and humiliating than that which 
is ordained for the weaker sex among the Hindoos 
cannot easily be conceived. ' Day and night ,' 
says Menu, ' must women be held by their protectors 
in a state of dependance. Though inobservant of 
approved usages, or enamoured of another woman, or 
devoid of good qualities, yet a husband must con- 
stantly be revered as a god by a virtuous wife. No 
sacrifice is allowed to women apart from their hus- 
bands, no religious rite, no fasting' To every 
species of ill-usage she is bound to submit." " No- 
thing can exceed the habitual contempt which the 
Hindus entertain for their women. Hardly are 
they ever mentioned in their laws, or other books, 
but as wretches of the most base and vicious incli- 



1 Ward, i. 48, 49. Preface. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



61 



nations, on whose nature no virtuous or useful 
qualities can be engrafted." 1 " They are held 
accordingly in extreme degradation. They are not 
accounted worthy to partake of religious rites but 
in conjunction with their husbands. They are en- 
tirely excluded from the sacred books. They are 
by system deprived of education." The husband 
may divorce his wife almost at pleasure, and turn 
her out of his house, but neither sale nor desertion 
can release her from her subjection to him.- 

Under these circumstances, it is almost impos- 
sible that a wife should be happy. " In general, 
concord, the union of minds, and sincere mutual 
friendship are rarely found in Hindu families. 
The extreme distance kept up between the two 
sexes, which makes the women absolutely passive 
in society, and subject to the will and even to the 
caprices of the men, has accustomed these lords 
of their destiny to regard them as slaves, and to 
treat them on all occasions with severity and 
contempt. It is therefore in vain to expect, be- 
tween husband and wife, that reciprocal confidence 
and kindness which constitute the happiness of a 
family." 3 

Thus cruel to their wives, the Hindoos show as 
little regard to the destitute and sick. " A Hindoo 
lives in perpetual terror of killing even an insect ; 

1 Mill, i. 385, 386. 

2 lb. i. 386, 388, 389. Dubois however says, that he is bound 
to support her as long as she lives. — Dubois, 136. 

3 Dubois, 146. 



62 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



this feeble circumstance, however, is counteracted 
by so many gloomy and malignant principles, that 
their religion, instead of humanizing the character, 
must have had no inconsiderable effect in fostering 
that disposition to revenge, that insensibility to the 
sufferings of others, and often that active cruelty 
which lurks under his smiling exterior. ~No other 
race of men are, perhaps, so little friendly, and 
beneficent to one another, as the Hindus." 1 They 
have never erected a charity-school, an alms-house, 
or an hospital; they suffer their fellow-creatures 
to perish for want before their very doors, refusing 
to administer to their wants while living, or to inter 
their bodies to prevent their being devoured by 
vultures and jackals when dead ; and when the 
power of the sword was in their hands, they impaled 
alive, cut off the noses, the legs, and arms, of cul- 
prits. " Many unfortunate creatures perish in the 
sight of those who are well able to relieve them, 
but who exonerate themselves from this duty by 
urging, that they are of another caste : a bramhun 
finds friends every where, but the caste has sunk 
the afflicted shoodru to the level of the beasts." 2 

1 Mill, i. 403. 

2 Ward, i. 107, 119. Introduction. 

" As I was going in the evening to a neighbouring village to 
preach, I saw a Hindostanee woman with a child at the foot of a 
tree ; on coming up to her I found her much exhausted with the 
cholera, and nearly insensible. I of course gave her medicines, 
and begged, long in vain, of the hard-hearted villagers for a little 
milk to give the child. To-day I visited her twice, and she seems 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



6:3 



Though they would not, for the world, kill a cow, 
they often suffer them to perish for want of food; 

somewhat better, but there is little probability of her recovery ; for 
though she has money, yet no one will supply her with necessa- 
ries, and she cannot help herself; perhaps indeed the circum- 
stance of her having a little money will induce them to behave 
worse to her. I got a little milk to-day, and fed the poor child, 
but it is painful work ; any heart but that of a Hindoo must have 
been moved to witness the eagerness with which the half-famished 
infant devoured it ; and when she had drank it, the imploring look 
of the little creature made me think of Moses and Pharaoh's 
daughter. I tried every argument I could command to induce 
the villagers to take care of the child, and promised to pay any 
expense; but no, it was a female child, and nobody cared for it J" 
—Letter from the Rev. A. Sutton, of Balasore, in Orissa, in August, 
1828. Peggs, 35. 

" A man who worked in the paper-mill at Serampore was bitten 
by a snake. His companions immediately took him to the river 
to throw him in. When Mr. R. and Mr. F. Carey got to them, 
they found the poor creature between two men; one had hold of 
his shoulders, the other of his legs, and they were about to throw 
him into the river. Mr. Carey said, he thought the man was not 
dead, and made them put him down. Medicine was sent for, and 
a spoonful given to him. Mr. C. well understood the nature of 
the bite, and said, it would be necessary to repeat the medicine 
every twenty minutes all night. Mr. R, asked those around him, 
if any one would stay with the poor man all night. They all 
answered, ' No, we cannot lose our sleep. It would be much better 
for him to die, than for us to be deprived of a night's sleep: My 
husband stayed all night, and the poor man continued to get 
better. In the morning he was so far recovered as to be able to 
walk home. The next day he came to our house, and fell down 
at my husband's feet, and said, « I am come to worship you, 



64 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



and they will let a boat full of persons sink, with- 
out offering the least assistance. 1 

To licentiousness and cruelty we must add theft 
and falsehood, to make up the character of the 
Hindoo. The description of a brahmin, given by 
one of that caste, was, " He is an anfs nest of lies 
and impostures. " The Abbe Dubois knew them 
well, and says, ' ; It is not possible to describe them 
better, in so few words. All Hindoos are expert 
in disguising the truth ; but there is nothing in 
which the caste of brahmans so much surpasses 
them all as in the art of lying. It has taken so 
deep a root among them, that, so far from blushing 
when detected in it, many of them make it their 
boast." 3 The testimony of Mr. Ward, a still more 
intelligent and unexceptionable witness, is as fol- 
lows : "Every one who has been obliged to employ 
the Hindoos, has had the most mortifying proofs, 
that, if the vices of lying, deceit, dishonesty, and 
impurity, can degrade a people, then the Hindoos 
have sunk to the utmost depths of depravity. 
Whole pages might be written on this painful 
subject, till the reader was perfectly nauseated with 
the picture of their disgusting vices. The com- 
plaints of Europeans are so frequent and so loud 
on the dishonesty of the natives, that a person can 

Sahab, for saving my life ; and I will work for you as long as I 
live !' He proved a faithful creature."— Widow of a Missionary. 
Peggs, 176, 177. 

i Peam 175. ; Dubois, 177. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



65 



seldom go into the company of those who employ 
them, without hearing these complaints. Instead 
of its being true, that property may be left for 
months and years in safety, (unless it be committed 
to the care of a person whose own property will 
be forfeited if any thing be missing,) roopees, cloth, 
or any thing which a native can easily and without 
discovery turn into money, are not safe for a 
moment, unless well secured. Servants scarcely 
ever make a bargain, even for their native masters, 
without securing something for themselves. Euro- 
peans are considered as fair game, and he is es- 
teemed the most capable who can defraud them 
the most. A master, whether native or European, 
is seldom able to discover the treachery and deceit 
of his servants, unless they happen to quarrel 
among themselves; and then the spirit of revenge, 
working in the minds of the injured, brings to light 
scenes of villainy which overwhelm the master 
with astonishment, and too often excite in him a 
perfect hatred of the native character. Lying is 
universally practised : the author has never known 
a Hindoo, who has not resorted to it without hesi- 
tation, whenever he thought he could draw the 
slightest advantage from it." 1 

It would be easy to multiply statements to this 
effect, but we will only add the testimony of a 
gentleman, whose ability, experience, and excel- 
lence of character, render his testimony decisive. 



1 Ward, i. 294, 295. 



66 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



" The writer of this paper, after spending* many 
years in India, and a considerable portion of them 
in the interior of our provinces, inhabited almost 
entirely by natives, towards whom whilst acknow- 
ledging his views of their general character, he 
always lived in habits of good will, is obliged to 
add his testimony to all preceding evidence, and to 
avow that they exhibit human nature in a very 
degraded humiliating state, and are at once objects 
of disesteem and of commiseration." 

" It has suited the views of some philosophers to 
represent that people as amiable and respectable ; 
and a few late travellers have chosen rather to 
place some softer traits of their characters in an 
engaging light, than to give a just delineation of 
the whole. The generality however of those who 
have written concerning Hindostan, appear to have 
concurred in affirming what foreign residents there 
have as generally thought, nay, what the natives 
themselves, freely acknowledge of each other, that 
they are a people exceedingly depraved." " Of the 
Bengalize, it is true, most generally, that they are 
destitute, to a wonderful degree, of those qualities 
which are requisite to the security and comfort of 
society. They want truth, honesty, and good faith, 
in an extreme, of which European society furnishes 
no example. In Europe those principles are the 
standard of character and credit; men who have 
them not are still solicitous to maintain the repu- 
tation of them, and those who are known to be 
devoid of them sink into contempt. It is not so in 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



67 



Bengal. The qualities themselves are so generally 
gone, that men do not found their pretension in 
society upon them ; they take no pains to acquire 
or to keep up the credit of possessing them. Those 
virtues are not the tests by which connections and 
associations are regulated ; nor does the absence of 
them, however plain and notorious, greatly lower 
any one in public estimation, nor strip him of his 
acquaintance. Want of veracity especially, is so 
habitual, that if a man has truth to defend, he will 
hardly fail to recur to falsehood for its support. 
In matters of interest, the use of lying seems so 
natural, that it gives no provocation, it is treated as 
an excusable indulgence, a mode of proceeding 
from which general toleration has taken away 
offence, and the practice of cheating, pilfering, 
tricking, and imposing, in the ordinary transactions 
of life is so common, that the Hindoos seem to 
regard them as they do natural evils, against which 
they will defend themselves as well as they can, 
but at which it would be idle to be angry. Very 
flagrant breaches of truth and honesty pass without 
any deep or lasting stain. The scandalous conduct 
of Tippoo in recently denying to Lord Cornwallis, 
in the face of the world, the existence of that 
capitulation (Coimbetere) which he had shamefully 
broken, was merely an example of the manners of 
the country, where such things occur in common 
life every day. In the worst parts of Europe, 
there are no doubt great numbers of men who are 
sincere, upright, and conscientious. In Bengal, a 



08 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



man of real veracity and integrity is a great phe- 
nomenon : one conscientious in the whole of his 
conduct, it is to be feared, is an unknown character. 
Every where in this quarter of the globe, there is 
still much generous trust and confidence, and men 
are surprised when they find themselves deceived. 
In Bengal, distrust is awake in all transactions ; 
bargains and agreements are made with mutual 
apprehensions of breach of faith, conditions and 
securities are multiplied, and failure in them excites 
little or no surprise." 1 " Through the influence of 
similar principles, power entrusted to a native of 
Hindostan seldom fails of being exercised tyran- 
nically, or perverted to the purposes of injustice. 
Official, or ministerial employments of all sorts, 
and in all gradations, are generally used as means 
of peculation. It has already appeared that the 
distribution of justice, whenever it has been com- 
mitted to natives, whether Hindoos or Maho- 
medans, has commonly become a traffic in venality; 
the best cause being obliged to pay for success, and 
the worst having the opportunity of purchasing it. 
Money has procured acquittance even for murder. 
Such is the power of money, that no crime is more 
frequent, hardly any less thought of, than perjury. 
It is no extraordinary thing to see two sets of 
witnesses swearing directly contrary to each other, 
and to find, upon a minute investigation, that few 
probably of the evidences on either side have a 



1 Grant in Ward, i. 298—301. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



69 



competent knowledge of the matter in question." 
" Selfishness, in a word, unrestrained by principle, 
operates universally ; and money, the grand instru- 
ment of selfish gratifications, may be called the 
supreme idol of the Hindoos. Deprived for the 
most part of political power, and destitute of bold- 
ness of spirit, but formed for business, artful, 
frugal, and persevering, they are absorbed in 
schemes for the gratification of avarice." 1 "Dis- 
cord, hatred, abuse, slanders, injuries, complaints, 
and litigations, all the effects of selfishness un- 
restrained by principle, prevail to a surprising 
degree. They overspread the land, they come per- 
petually before all men in authority. The deli- 
berate malice, the falsehood, the calumnies, and the 
avowed enmity with which the people pursue each 
other, and sometimes from father to son, offer a 
very mortifying view of the human character. "No 
stranger can sit down among them without being 
struck with this temper of malevolent contention 
and animosity, as a prominent feature in the cha- 
racter of this society. It is seen in every village, 
the inhabitants live among each other in a sort of 
repulsive state, nay, it enters into almost every 
family. Seldom is there a household without its 
internal divisions, and lasting enmities, most com- 
monly too on the score of interest. The women 
partake of this spirit of discord. Held in slavish 
subjection by the men, they rise in furious passions 



1 Grant in Ward, i. 303, 304. 



70 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



against each other, which vent themselves in such 
loud, virulent, and indecent railings, as are hardly 
to be heard in any other part of the world." 

" Though the Bengalees in general have not suf- 
ficient resolution to vent their resentments against 
each other in open combat, yet robberies, thefts, 
burglaries, river piracies, and all sorts of depre- 
dations, where darkness, secrecy, or surprise can 
give advantage, are exceedingly common, and have 
been so in every past period of which any account 
is extant. There are castes of robbers and thieves, 
who consider themselves acting in their proper 
profession, and having united their families, train 
their children to it. No where in the world are 
ruffians more adroit or more hardened. Troops of 
these banditti, it is well known, are generally em- 
ployed or harboured by the zemindars of the 
districts, who are sharers in their booty. They 
frequently make attacks in bodies, and on those 
occasions murder is very common. But besides 
these regular corps, multitudes of individuals em- 
ploy themselves in despoiling their neighbours. 
Nor is it only in large and populous places and 
their vicinity, that such violences are practised ; no 
part of the country, no village is safe from them. 
Complaints of depredations in every quarter, on 
the highways, on the water as well as the land are 
perpetual. Though these are the crimes more im- 
mediately within the reach of justice, and though 
numbers of criminals have been, and are executed, 
the evils still subsist." " Benevolence has been 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



71 



represented as a leading principle in the minds of 
the Hindoos; but those who make this assertion 
know little of their character. Though a Hindoo 
would shrink with horror from the idea of directly 
slaying a cow, which is a sacred animal among 
them, yet he who drives one in his cart, galled and 
excoriated as she often is by the yoke, beats her 
unmercifully from hour to hour, without any care 
or consideration of the consequence." " In general 
a want of sensibility for others is a very eminent 
characteristic of this people. The apathy with 
which a Hindoo views all persons and interests 
unconnected with himself, is such as excites the 
indignation of Europeans." 

" These observations lead us to another striking 
proof of want of benevolence in the Hindoos; 
namely, their deficiency of natural affection. In 
the scarcity of grain which prevailed about Cal- 
cutta in the year 1788, a gentleman then high, now 
still higher in office there, ordered his servants to 
buy any children that might be brought for sale, 
(for in times of dearth Hindoo parents frequently 
sell their offspring,) and to tell their mothers that 
when the scarcity should be over, they might come 
again and receive their children back. Of about 
twenty thus humanely preserved, most of whom 
were females, only three were ever enquired for by 
their mothers. The scarcity was neither extreme 
nor long. Filial and paternal affection appear 
equally deficient among them ; and in the conjugal 
relation, the characteristic indifference of the people 



72 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



is also discernible among those who come most 
within the sphere of European observation, namely, 
the lower orders." " Affection and choice have had 
no influence in this connection, nor does it often 
happen that the former is studied and improved. 
The parties continue passive under that law which 
first brought them together. According to the 
despotic manners of the East, the husband is lord, 
and the wife a servant ; seldom does he think of 
making her a companion or a friend. Polygamy, 
which is tolerated among the Hindoos, tends still 
more to destroy all rational domestic society." 1 

Such testimony, from witnesses so competent, 
will, alas! justify the conclusion of Mr. Mill : " The 
lower orders, in other countries, are often lament- 
ably debased ; in Hindustan they are degraded be- 
low the brutes." 2 

How can such a people dwell with God? Their 
religious worship obscenity, their objects of adoration 
monsters of vice, their holiness consisting with en- 
tire profligacy, their affections blighted, their hearts 
cold, their views earthly, their atonement for sin 
self-inflicted tortures, their sanctification to wash in 
the Ganges? To suppose it is an insult to the 
Almighty, to pretend it is a cruel mockery of them. 

4. The Cl'nese. — Before we leave this part of 
the subject, the condition of one other empire must 
be examined, both because the attention of Chris- 
tians has lately been much directed to it, because 



i Grant in Ward, i. 304—310. 



2 Mill, i. 376. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



73 



it contains within itself nearly one-third of the 
human race, and because there, if any where, the 
enemy of missions would wish to seek for his proof 
that they are unnecessary. No one of common 
information can deny that the Hindoos require 
the Gospel, but is it needful for the Chinese ? To a 
real Christian, evidence on this head is superfluous : 
all men need it, because all are by nature ungodly 
and corrupt, nor is there any revealed method of 
salvation, except through Christ. But, as some 
think, or affect to think, that the heathen may be 
brought by some unknown causes into a state of 
salvation through Christ, let us see whether the 
present state of the Chinese warrants this opinion. 

I willingly concede their superiority to other 
Asiatic nations, and, indeed, to all heathen nations 
with which we are acquainted ; but thev are still 
without God. There are three tolerated sects 
among them, the Buddhist, the Taouist, and the 
Mahommedan ; but the philosophy of Confucius 
is the religion of the state. He was, doubtless, an 
extraordinary man. " Toute la doctrine de ce phi- 
losophe," says Du Halde, " tendoit a redonner a la 
nature humaine ce premier lustre, et cette premiere 
beaute quelle avoit recue du ciel, et qui avoit etc 
obscurcie par les tenebres de l'ignorauce, et par la 
contagion des vices. II conseilloit, pour pouvoir y 
parvenir, d'obeir au seigneur du ciel, de 1'honorer 
et de le craindre ; . d'aimer son prochain comaie soi- 
meme, de vaincre ses penchans, de ne prendre 
jamais ses passions pour regie de sa conduite, 

E 



74 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



de les soumettre a la raison, de l'eeouter en 
toutes choses, de ne rien faire, de ne rien dire, 
de ne rien penser meme qui lui fut contraire." 
" II precha par tout, autant par ses exemples que 
par ses instructions, la modestie, le desenteresse- 
ment, la sincerite, requite, la temperance, le mepris 
des richesses et des plaisirs." " Ses actions ne 
dementirent jamais ses maximes, et par sa gravite, 
sa modestie, sa douceur, sa frugalite, le mepris qu'il 
fasoit des biens de la terre, et l'attention continuelle 
qu'il avoit sur ses actions, il exprimoit en toute 
sa personne les preceptes qu'il enseignoit par ses 
ecrits et par ses discours." 1 Though he seems 
to have recognized one Supreme Being under the 
name Teen (heaven), jet he did not attain to any 
clear or influential views of the attributes of God. 
Among his recorded sayings, are these: "Unless 
it be heaven's design, that my cause should fail, 
what can the people of Kwang do to me ?" " He 
that offends against heaven, has no one to whom 
he can pray." " Imperial heaven has no kindred 
to serve, and will only assist virtue." "When 
heaven sent down the inferior people, it constituted 
princes and instructors, directing them to assist the 
Supreme Euler, in manifesting kindness throughout, 
all regions." 2 But in his works there is no account 
of the perfections of God ; men are never taught 
to love and obey him. His will is never made the 

1 Du Halde's Description de la Chiue, ii, 384, 386. 

2 Medhurst's China, 186. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



75 



foundation of morals. And instead of directing 
men exclusively to worship him, Confucius taught 
them to pay divine honours to their ancestors. 1 
None of the most celebrated books of his followers 
contain any distinct statement of the unity of God. 
And with the worship of Teen, the Government, 
and the whole body of his disciples, now worship 
the earth, the ancestors of the emperor, the gods of 
the land, and many others. 2 

Besides, whatever advantages the nation might 
have derived from the obscure notion of a Supreme 
Being, sometimes glanced at in the writings of 
Confucius, had all embraced his philosophy, his 
views are confined to the literati : and the mass of 
those, who have any religion at all, are Buddhists. 
These, in addition to the rites of the state cere- 
monial, adore innumerable idols, with Boodh at 
their head, a deified Hindoo sage who flourished 
in South Bahar about a thousand years before 
Christy 

The Taou sect, who arose about the same time 
with Confucius, are heathen mystics, adoring the 
Taou, or eternal reason, but they also worship 
idols, 4 and do not dissent from the demon worship 
of the state. 5 

The few Mahommedans, who are scattered 

1 Davis's Chinese, ii. 93. 

2 China Opened, by Gutzlaff, ii. 183, 184, 186—189. 
5 Medhurst, 204. 4 lb. 

5 Gutzlaff, ii. 209—212, 214. 

E 2 



76 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



throughout the empire, are not strict, and possess 
little influence. 1 

Lastly, the mass of the people never pray either 
with forms or without : they are aware of the child- 
ishness of idolatry, the forms of which they main- 
tain for worldly ends, while they deride and despise 
what they adore, and are in fact indifferent to all 
religion. 2 

Still these forms of false religion, and this avowed 
irreligion being free from the consecrated impurities 
of Hindooism, have left the people in many respects 
superior to the followers of the brahmins. 

The maxims of the Confucian philosophy, in the 
absence of religion, have likewise been of great 
service. Imperial decrees and popular writings 
assiduously inculcate on the people many valuable 
principles of social morality. On the first day, and 
the fifteenth day of every moon, the civil and 
military officers of a place assemble the soldiers 
and the people into a hall, where one part of the 
sacred edict is read aloud and expounded by the 
public orator. 3 On these occasions, the following 
maxims, contained in the authorized commentary 
on the sacred edict, are read and enforced, among 
others of a similar kind. " Filial piety is the un- 
alterable statute of heaven." 4 " If you know the 
kindness of your parents, why do you not exercise 



1 Gutzlaff, ii. 241, 242. 2 lb. ii. 184, 185, 203. 

3 Milne's Sacred Edict, 9, 10. Preface. 

4 Tb. 30. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



77 



filial piety towards them?" 1 "Better that you 
yourself should have little to eat and to use, and 
have sufficiency to give them to eat and to use, 
and lessen their toils." 2 " Younger brothers should 
greatly respect elder brothers." 3 " Men ought 
sincerely and ardently to love their kindred." " In 
an ancient book it is said, ' Teach the people to 
practise six things, viz. obedience to their parents, 
kindness to their brothers and sisters, concord 
among persons of the same sirname, harmony to- 
wards their relatives, sincerity towards their friends, 
and compassion for the poor.'" 4 " Let the aged 
and the young in the village be united as one body, 
and their joys and sorrows viewed as those of one 
family." 5 " Those who dwell together, and among 
whom are more near and more distant relatives, 
should always treat each other with respect and be- 
nevolence.'' 6 " Let me not, presuming on my riches, 
go and scorn or injure the poor. Let me not, 
relying on my promotion, go and oppress those 
who are not promoted. Let me not, employing 
my own diabolical craft and low cunning, go and 
impose on the stupid and simple. Did I possess 
strength and boldness that could spread terror all 
around, let me not, trusting thereto, go to annoy 
and shame those who are weak and without cou- 



1 Milne's Sacred Edict, 37. 
3 lb. 42. 
5 lb. 66. 



2 lb. 38. 
4 lb. 56. 
6 lb. 72, 73. 



78 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



rage." 1 " Beware of sloth. Maintain to the end 
that diligence which you manifest at the begin- 
ning." 2 " Diligence is indeed your duty ; but there 
must be the word economy also." 3 " Not to be 
economical in the commencement, will give cause 
for bitter repentance in the close." 4 " In clothing, 
let there be no superfluous ornament. In food and 
drink, let there be moderation. In domestic uten- 
sils, let there be plainness and simplicity." 5 " The 
scholar is the head of the four classes of the 
people." 6 "But why? Because he reads the 
books of the sacred and virtuous sages ; understands 
true doctrine; is of upright heart ; speaks and acts 
so as to excite the people to imitation." 7 " You 
scholars should read the orthodox book: licentious 
ballads and novels you should never look at." s 
" Whenever you see them (i. e. children) scolding 
any one, or fighting with other children, no matter 
whether they are in the right or in the wrong, 
you should correct your own first. Hearing them 
tell a lie, reprove them; seeing them take only 
a needle or a rush belonging to another, cor- 
rect and admonish them. Daily talk to them of 
filial piety, fraternal affection, fidelity and truth. 
Discourse to them of the good men and good actions, 
both of the former and present time ; and call on 



1 Milne, 73. 



2 lb. 88. 
4 lb. 97. 
6 lb. 113. 
8 lb. 120. 



3 lb. 92. 
5 lb. 98. 
7 lb. 119. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



70 



them to imitate these. Teach them to keep near 
the persons of correct character ; and to remove to 
a distance from men of corrupt conversation. While 
they are at home with their father and mother, you 
should teach them the duty of children ; command 
them to be affectionate and respectful ; teach them 
that they must not be obstinate, or indulge their 
tempers ; that in every affair they are to ask your 
permission ; and that they are not to presume 
to direct, or decide for themselves." 1 "To sum 
up the whole, you should, in instructing them, 
let them every day hear some good words, and 
see some good actions ; and call upon them to 
imitate upright men. The proverb says, ' He that 
follows good men, will learn to be good himself/" 2 
e< Obedience to parents, and honour to superiors; 
these are the two most important doctrines under 
heaven ; again, teach them to be diligent in agricul- 
tural pursuits ; and every hour and moment to 
preserve in their minds four things, viz. propriety, 
justice, moderation, and a sense of shame." 3 Books 
of a similar tendency are gratuitously circulated 
and willingly read, 4 and although they want the 
highest sanction of moral laws, the will of God, 
to which they make no reference, appealing only 
to reason, to public opinion, to the happiness at- 
tending virtue, the misery which follows vice, and 
the law of the land, yet these, and especially the 



1 Milne, 218, 219. 
3 lb. 222. 



2 lb. 220. 

4 Gutzlaff, ii. 207. 



80 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



latter, are to a certain extent effectual. The con- 
science even of the heathen is not wholly perverted, 
so that when told that duties are duties, they 
can recognize them as such, and the will of an 
autocrat, who has absolute power of life and death, 
solemnly promulgated, must have greater influence 
still. 

Although there is no fear of future punishment, 
the certainty of immediate punishment may deter 
men from many offences against society. And this 
motive is largely employed in China. If a son 
after the death of his father puts off the mourning 
habit too soon, he must have eighty blows. 1 If 
a person strikes his elder brother or sister, he re- 
ceives ninety blows and banishment for two years 
and a half. 2 If a person strikes his father, mother, 
grandfather, or grandmother, he is beheaded. 3 A 
person who has used abusive language is strangled. 1 
Persons who neglect the established order of pre- 
cedence at village festivals shall suffer fifty blows. 5 
If one person strikes or kicks another without 
producing any visible hurt or wound, he shall suffer 
twenty blows. 6 All persons using abusive lan- 
guage shall have ten blows. 7 Every private person 
who uses a house, a carriage, dress, furniture, or 
other articles not conformable to the established 
rules and gradations, shall suffer fifty blows. And 

1 Staunton's Penal Code of China, 188. 2 lb. 345. 

3 lb. 346. 4 Ib> 357- 

5 lb. 191. e Ib< 324> 
7 lb. 354. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



81 



lastly, whoever is guilty of improper conduct, and 
such as is contrary to the spirit of the laws, though 
not a breach of any specific article, shall suffer from 
forty to eighty blows. 1 These laws seem enough to 
account for much of the external respect to parents, 
the courtesy to each other, the absence of abusive 
language, the simplicity of habits, and the general 
propriety of conduct which distinguish the Chinese 
from almost all other heathen nations. Few per- 
sons would be disposed to abuse others, or to wear 
too rich a dress, if sure to be publicly bambooed 
for it. But notwithstanding all the checks upon 
various vicious dispositions, much remains in China 
to afflict a humane or Christian mind. Under the 
combined influence of philosophy and law, they 
certainly are much less demoralized than many 
other heathen nations. Almost all writers concur 
in representing them to be cheerful, industrious, 
orderly, peaceable, and good-tempered ; they rarely 
quarrel or use abusive language to each other, they 
are good colonists, they carry on an extensive com- 
merce, and their business-like character assimilates 
them in a striking manner to the most intelligent 
nations of the West. 2 But notwithstanding all that 
has been done for them by philosophy and law, 
they are heathens still, living without God, and 
without any of those dispositions which he loves. 
Complete subjection to as perfect a despotism as 

1 Staunton, 419. 

2 Davis, i. 6, 207, 249, 250, 257, 381 . 



H2 



WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



was ever contrived, with a slavish adherence to all 
the customs and opinions which have been esta- 
blished by " the wisdom of their ancestors," they 
have no spirit of enterprise, they are destitute 
of all independence of spirit, and limit their 
trammelled and timid minds to the acquisition of 
gain. 

Some honour Confucius alone, some rather 
adore Boodh, but all worship Mammon. Money 
is the national idol, the summum bonum of high 
and low ; for it they will do all things ; without 
it nothing. Not satisfied with making wealth 
contribute to the enjoyments of this world, many 
burn tinned paper before their idols, with the 
expectation that the ashes will become dollars for 
their use beyond the grave. 1 To obtain money, 
they will cheat whenever an opportunity presents 
itself.s They lie without scruple; 3 and when de- 
tected betray no shame. 4 Mandarins are oppres- 
sive ; merchants are knavish, and are all deceitful: 5 
they delight in slandering their best friends; 6 
and in general show a total want of conscientious- 
ness. 7 Like the Hindoos, they are gentle and 
mild, but like them they are also cold and cruel, 
barbarous to their cattle and merciless to each 
other. Various instances of extreme inhumanity 

1 Gutzlaff, i. 477. 2 lb. i. 505, Barrow, 179, 180. 

3 Davis, i. 256. Barrow, 188. 

4 Gutzlaff, i. 507. 5 Barrow, 179, 180, 187. 
6 Gutzlaff, i. 507. 7 Ib.i. 477. 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



83 



were witnessed by Mr. Barrow. One man hav- 
ing fractured his skull, his companions took 
him up and were going to bury him alive, but 
were prevented by a European. On the grand 
canal the stern of an old vessel crowded with 
spectators, fell in, and numbers were precipitated 
into the water ; many boats were passing, yet none 
paid any attention to the drowning and shrieking 
wretches. On another occasion, the agent in the 
suite of the Dutch ambassador, on the road to the 
capital, in skaiting, fell into a pond ; when the spec- 
tators, instead of helping him, ran away laughing. 1 
What is no less disgraceful to them is the practice 
of infanticide, which all allow to exist, and which 
some affirm to be dreadfully common. " If further 
proofs were wanting," says Mr. Barrow, " to 
establish the insensible and incompassionate cha- 
racter of the Chinese, the horrid practice of in- 
fanticide, tolerated by custom and encouraged by 
the government, can leave no doubt on this sub- 
ject." 2 " It is considered as a part of the duty 
of the police of Pekin to employ certain persons 
to go their rounds, at an early hour in the morning, 
with carts, in order to pick up such bodies of 
infants as may have been thrown out into the 
streets in the course of the night. No inquiries 
are made, but the bodies are carried to a common 
pit without the city walls, into which all those 
that may be living, as well as those that are dead, 

1 Barrow, 164—167. 2 lb. 167. 

e4 



84 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 



are thrown promiscuously." "The number of 
children thus unnaturally and inhumanly slaugh- 
tered or interred alive, in the course of a year, is 
differently stated by different authors, some making 
it about ten and others thirty thousand in the 
whole empire. Taking the mean, as given by 
those with whom we conversed on the subject, I 
should conclude that about twenty-four infants 
were, on an average, in Pekin, daily carried to 
the pit of death." "This calculation gives nine 
thousand nearly for the capital alone, where it is 
supposed a number are exposed equal to that of 
all the other parts of the empire." 1 Mr. Davis 
doubts whether it is carried to this extent, 2 but 
Mr. Gutzlaff, who knows all the maritime pro- 
vinces of China, by frequent visits for the distri- 
bution of Christian books, says in his recent pub- 
lication respecting China, " We can assure the 
reader, from actual observation, that the murder of 
female infants is prevalent throughout the empire ; 
and perpetuated with shameless atrocity." 3 

The treatment of women, in the higher classes 
at least, is the source of still more extended misery. 
At the head of this class of offences I must place 
polygamy, a cruel practice which, uniformly de- 
grading both sexes, corrupts and ruins a nation 
as much as any vice which can be named. In 
China it is the source of a thousand cruel customs. 



1 Barrow, 168—170. 
3 Gutzlaff, i. 491. 



2 Davis, i. 261, 262. 



ARE NEEDFUL 



85 



At the age of nine or ten, sisters are entirely 
separated from their brothers. 1 When grown up, a 
young woman cannot choose her own husband, but 
is sold by her parents to the suitor. 2 In this way 
marriages are often contracted without the persons 
to be married having ever seen each other. 3 Thus 
united to one who is more likely to be a tyrant 
than a friend, she is forbidden to eat at the same 
table, or to sit in the same room with him. 4 No in- 
tellectual employments ever cheer her comfortless 
seclusion, for women receive no education, 5 and 
lest the buoyancy of health and natural cheerful- 
ness should triumph over sorrow, and she should 
be happy in spite of seclusion, disdain, and igno- 
rance, she is crippled for life by the unnatural 
compression of the feet; which often injures the 
health and always makes it painful to walk. Then, 
on the most frivolous pretexts, the husband may 
dismiss his wife; and that it may be impossible 
that a woman should ever find happiness by marry- 
ing the husband of her choice, public opinion 
makes it infamous for a widow to marry a second 
time. 6 Thus in China, as in all other countries 
where it prevails, polygamy has achieved the de- 
gradation of the whole sex. Multitudes indeed 
cannot afford to maintain more than one wife. 
Nor can the poorer class in any country; but 



1 Barrow, 142. 
3 Davis, i. 286. 
5 Gutzlaff, ii. 163, 164. 



2 lb. 145. 

4 Barrow, 142. 

6 Davis, i. 282, 283. 



86 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 

those who do, are quite enough to give the tone 
to the whole society ; to injure the women in 
general ; to lead to a thousand tyrannical customs 
destructive of their happiness ; to uproot almost 
all domestic comfort ; and eventually to degrade 
the tyrant no less than his unpitied slave. What- 
ever then may be the virtues of the Chinese, they 
are unprincipled, cruel, and ungodly. The religion 
of one part of the nation is a vile idolatry ; that 
of the other approaches atheism. Multitudes 
openly deride their own religion, and probably 
there never was a nation yet which, as a whole, 
was so completely irreligious. Is that nation fit 
for the eternal presence of the Almighty in heaven? 
If the inhabitants of the South Seas, with other 
savage tribes, are in imminent danger, if the 
millions of Hindostan are under the sentence of 
God's wrath, is there any thing to mark out this 
people as the objects of his love? Can he love 
idolatry and atheism, selfishness and cruelty, in- 
ordinate vanity and devotedness to worldly gain? 
Alas, they are no exception to the rest of the hea- 
then world, but like |the rest, are living without 
God, and therefore without hope. 

Thus heathen nations in general, whether bar- 
barous or partially civilized, whether precocious 
or gentle, whether stupid or intelligent, are too 
surely lying in wickedness, " the children of 
wrath," who in many respects are even now un- 
happy, and are in danger of eternal death. 
" Without holiness no man shall see the Lord," 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



87 



and they are unholy : " Except a man be born 
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God;" and 
they are unregenerate : " The unrighteous shall 
not inherit the kingdom of God" and they are 
totally debased by vice: all " idolaters shall have 
their part in the lake which burnetii with fire and 
brimstone;" and they worship innumerable idols: 
" He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh 
reap corruption ;" and their hearts are altogether 
carnal : and finally, " as many as have sinned with- 
out law, shall perish without law ;" and they live in 
sin continually. 1 It is too plain that they are in- 
capable of the happiness of heaven, and unfitted 
by their habits for the presence of God, nor can 
he admit them there. Sooner would a parent 
place an assassin in the society of his children, 
or a shepherd introduce a tiger among his sheep, 
than God would exalt those whose characters at 
death are made up of all the dispositions which he 
abhors, to a place among his saints. 

Of what use is it that we should blind ourselves 
to the truth? Is it charity to misrepresent their 
prospects by crying peace, peace, when there is no 
peace ? To tell them that all is well when a few 
more years will place them beyond all hope ? A fire 
is raging in our neighbourhood ; some of the poor 
sufferers are looking on in helpless consternation 
at the wreck of their property, while others are in 

1 Heb. xii. 14. John iii. 3. 1 Cor. vi. 9. Rev. xxi. 8. 
Gal. vi. 8. Rom. ii. 12. 



88 WHETHER MISSIONARY EXERTIONS 

clanger of being burnt to death, shall we shut our 
shutters on the flickering conflagration, stop our 
ears to the roar of the flames, express our convic- 
tion that all are safe, and so sink again to sleep ; 
or shall we realize the magnitude of the catas- 
trophe and hasten to extinguish the flames? How- 
ever we may flatter them, the heathen in general 
are too evidently on their way to ruin ; and the 
whole effect of our flattery is to soothe our con- 
sciences and to prolong our sloth. Whatever 
sophistries we employ to deceive ourselves, their 
doom remains the same, and while we sleep they 
perish. Every hour they are dying ; at the very 
moment that the reader is examining this argu- 
ment, some are passing into the presence of their 
Judge, undone. Within thirty years, a whole 
generation, hundreds of millions of idolaters will 
be ruined for ever. If some are now cheerful, 
the present happiness will embitter the future 
misery; but in the case of multitudes, sin and 
sorrow on earth, are leading down to worse sin 
and more intolerable sorrow in hell. And if we 
refuse to make Christ known to them within that 
thirty years, we share in their criminality and con-- 
• sent to their destruction. If any one denounce 
this statement as cruel fanaticism, while he him- 
self does nothing to evangelize the heathen, I 
charge him with greater cruelty. If it be bar- 
barous to pronounce them in danger of perishing, 
it is worse barbarity to let them perish unheeded. 
Irresistible evidence shows them to be in danger 



ARE NEEDFUL. 



89 



of destruction, we may yet, with God's help, save 
them, and the sentimentalist will not. When 
danger is real, undeniable, urgent, to attempt to 
save them is humane ; to disbelieve their danger 
and refuse them aid is savage. We see them 
struggling and sinking in the rapids, on the very 
verge of the abyss which is to swallow them up, 
what words can adequately describe the selfishness 
of the luxurious and wealthy sensualists, the devo- 
tees of pleasure and of fashion, who with power to 
save them, smile out their charitable conviction that 
they are safe and do nothing. The Word of God, 
and the facts of their condition, show us that they 
must shortly be miserable for ever ; the preaching 
of the Gospel is the appointed instrument for their 
salvation; and nothing but the disbelief of Scrip- 
ture, apathy to the sufferings of others, a thought- 
less frivolity, a base devotedness to gain and 
pleasure, or the utter absence of all religion, can 
make us refuse to send it to them. Let us be for 
once serious. At this moment they are going 
before God with every characteristic which must 
ensure his curse ; and our lethargy is adding to the 
number of lost souls. Within a few years mil- 
lions of sinners, now capable of infinite happiness, 
will be beyond the reach of mercy ; woe to them 
if they do not receive Christ : woe, woe to us if we 
do not make him known. 



CHAPTER III. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



<c It shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit 

upon all flesh." — Joel ii. 28. 
" I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto 

me." — John xii. 32. 
" Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.'' — 

Matt, xxviii. 20. 



Were there no express command given to the 
Church to preach the Gospel to the heathen, the 
consideration of the blessings which it imparts to 
those who believe, should of itself make Christians 
anxious to preach it ; or were we uncertain of the 
effects, still we have the express injunctions of our 
Saviour to do so ; and both these considerations are 
strengthened by a view of the deplorable state into 
which our natural corruption, aided by demon wor- 
ship, has plunged so many millions. What then 
if the prospect of evangelizing them seem arduous 
and costly? What if it threatens to expend large 
sums of money, and lives more valuable still ? Is 
not the object worth the sacrifice ? 

Wherever a project is commenced which pro- 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



91 



mises large returns to the capitalist, what sums 
of money are instantly subscribed? Millions are 
sometimes lost in commercial speculation as com- 
pletely as if they had been thrown into the sea ; and 
yet new speculations find new subscribers. Why 
should the effort to save men be that in which alone 
there is to be a timid and niggardly caution 1 Why 
should the same persons be so lavish in the one 
enterprise, so scrupulous in the other? Money 
need not indeed be wasted, nor is the scheme in 
the least questionable; but if it were, those who 
can hazard money for gain, should much more 
hazard it for the salvation of men. If the difficul- 
ties be thought by any to be so formidable that 
little can result from missionary effort but disap- 
pointment, still in a cause so great, and for per- 
sons so miserable, it is better to throw away effort 
than leave them to perish without aid. I can 
scarcely imagine that any one who should carefully 
read these pages will continue to doubt whether 
it is practicable to preach the Gospel to various 
heathen nations ; but if he should retain his doubt, 
still let him not withhold his aid to missions so 
long as there remains the slightest prospect of 
success. The object is so great, benevolent, and 
necessary, that if money should eventually be 
wasted, it would be a generous waste. To waste 
on pleasure, on ostentation, on vice, on covetous 
avidity for imaginary gain, may indeed do discredit 
to the head or to the heart; but to waste on the 
experiment whether the Gospel of Christ may not 



92 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

be preached to perishing sinners, while there is 
any hope of success, is better than to save for lower 
objects. But I ought not perhaps even for a 
moment to reason on an hypothesis which is utterly 
unreasonable, nor for a moment to admit that it 
may be impracticable to preach the Gospel to 
the world, since Scripture and experience most 
clearly demonstrate the contrary. 

I. STATEMENTS OF SCRIPTURE. 

Section I. — Practicability of missions proved from 
Scripture. 

That the world in general will eventually be 
converted to Christ we learn from the very promise 
given immediately after the fall, that the seed of 
the woman should bruise the serpent's head : 1 for 
how could the head of the serpent be bruised or 
crushed by the seed of the woman, in other words, 
how could the power of Satan be destroyed in the 
world, while numbers remained under his domi- 
nion ? It is true, his power would be crushed with 
reference to a small number of the elect, but with 
reference to the rest of mankind it would be un- 
touched ; whereas the image of the serpent, with 
mangled head, writhing in the agony of dissolution 
under the foot of the deliverer, implied that he 
should lose his dominion over men in general. 
Since that day God has been pleased often to renew 



1 Gen. iii. 15. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



93 



that promise, and with increasing distinctness. In 
the second Psalin, applied in the ISTew Testament to 
our Lord, 1 God has said to the Messiah, " Ask of 
me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inhe- 
ritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy 
possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of 
iron ; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter s 
vessel."- All opposing powers must therefore yield, 
the impenitent being destroyed, the rest being 
brought under his dominion. There is as much 
reason to apply this promise to Hindostan or China, 
as to England or France ; and as surely as any 
part of the heathen world has become his posses- 
sion, the whole must. In the sixty-fifth Psalm, 
we read that all men shall eventually be worshippers 
of God. " O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee 
shall all flesh come."* Again, the seventy-second 
Psalm, which is incapable of being applied to any 
one except our Lord, contains promises no less 
extensive: " He shall have dominion also from sea 
to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. 
They that dwell in the wilderness shall how before 
him ; and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings 
of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents : the 
kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all 
kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall 
serve him. His name shall endure for ever: his 
name shall be con tinued as long as the sun ; and men 

1 Acts iv. 26, 27 ; xiii. 33, &c. 2 Ps. ii. 8, 9. 

3 Ps. lxv. 2. 



94 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



shall be blessed in him : all nations shall call him 
blessed." 1 The effect of his dominion is to be such, 
that all wars shall cease. " He shall judge among 
the nations, and shall rebuke many people ; and they 
shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their 
spears into pruning -hooks : nation shall not lift up 
sword against nation, neither shall they learn war 
any more." 9 - From the time that the government 
should be upon his shoulder, that is, from the time 
of his ascension, his kingdom should have gradual 
extension, without any end but the subjugation of 
the whole earth. " Unto us a child is bom, unto 
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon 
his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, 
Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, 
The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his 
government and peace there shall be no end, upon 
the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order 
it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, 
from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the 
Lord of Hosts will perform this." 3 At that day 
the knowledge of God will be deep and universal, 
and it shall bring the Church of God to deep and 
settled peace. " They shall not hurt nor destroy in 
all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of 
the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
sea" 41 The consequences of the death of Christ 
will never fail to spread, till they issue in universal 



1 Ps. lxxii. 8—11, 17. 
3 Is. ix. 6, 7. 



2 Is. ii. 4. 
4 Is. xi. 9. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 95 

life and happiness. "In this mountain shall the 
Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat 
things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full 
of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he 
will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering 
cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over 
all nations. He will swallow up death in victory ; 
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off 
all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take 
away from off all the earth : for the Lord hath 
spoken it." 1 

The universality of Christ's dominion is equally 
taught in the Prophecies of Joel and of Daniel. 
In Joel we read, " It shall come to pass afterward, 
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh;" 2 
a promise which applied by the Apostle Peter to 
the effusion of the Spirit at Pentecost then began to 
be fulfilled, and must continue still to be accom- 
plished in the Church till all flesh have at length 
received the promised blessing. The last Old 
Testament prophecy which I will mention on this 
point is found in the seventh chapter of Daniel. 
After a vision of the four great monarchies, to be 
succeeded by the blasphemous Papal power under 
the image of the little horn, Daniel then saw the 
glorious throne of the Eternal set in heaven for 
judgment; " thousand thousands ministered unto 
him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood be- 
fore him " While gazing on the glorious vision the 



1 Is. xxv. 6 — 8, 



2 Joel ii. 28. 



96 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



prophet saw one like the Son of Man ascending 
on the clouds of heaven to the Eternal, to receive 
from him an universal empire. " I saw in the night 
visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came 
to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near 
before him. And there was given him dominion, and 
glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and 
languages, should serve him : his dominion is an 
everlasting dominion, ichich shall not pass away, 
and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." 1 
When our Lord was adjured by the High Priest 
to say whether he was the Christ, he thus applied 
this prediction to himself: " Thou hast said: never- 
theless, I say unto you, Henceforth (uk ap-i) shall 
ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of 
power, and coming in the clouds oj heaven." 2 "When 
therefore he ascended to his glory from the Mount 
of Olives, then did he come to the Ancient of days 
to receive his kingdom, and as the consequence 
of that gift, must all people, nations and languages, 
serve him. Even in his humiliation did our Lord 
reveal this appointed result of his sufferings. Small 
as was the company of his disciples then, he pre- 
dicted that their influence should continually ex- 
tend, till the whole world should be reformed by 
it. " The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, 
which a woman took, and hid in three measures of 

1 Dan. vii. 13, 14. 

2 Matt. xxvi. 64. St. Luke has the words airo rov vvv, from 
this time. Luke xxii. 69. 

3 Matt. xiii. 33. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 97 

meal, till the whole was leavened." 1 And without the 
veil of parable did he say to his disciples in anticipa- 
tion of his approaching death upon the cross, if 
I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto 
me"- This therefore is settled in the purpose of God. 
]N T o combination of men can overthrow it. The 
scepticism of the indifferent, the opposition of the 
profane, the mirth of the scornful, the hypocrisy 
of priestcraft, the decay of some churches, the 
apostasy of others, the vices of Christendom, the 
heathenism of the world, and the worldly strife and 
sloth of Christians can never disappoint the pur- 
poses of the Almighty, or rob the Saviour of his 
reward. The empire of Turkey, the wandering- 
Arabs, the tribes of Central Africa, the inacces- 
sible Mahomedans of Persia, the vast islands of 
the Indian Archipelago, India, whose fields are 
white unto the harvest, and China, whose hundreds 
of millions are forbidden to listen to the Gospel, 
all these, and whatever other land is now under 
the power of Satan, bound down by the chains 
of error and of vice, must be the Lord's. His mind 
cannot change ; and no enmity or indifference, no 
ignorance or superstition, no profligacy of morals, 
and no obstinacy of unbelief, whether found in 
people or governments, can hinder or even delay the 
triumphs of Almighty grace : and sooner or later 
there wdl be " Great voices in heaven, saying, The 
/kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of 



1 Matt. xiii. 33. 



2 John xii. 32. 



98 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign 
for ever and every 1 

Some may however think that God will work 
without our concurrence : and that since he is 
Almighty, our feeble instrumentality may be su- 
perfluous. It is true that he who when this world 
was wrapped in darkness said, "Let there be light, 
and there was light" might dispense with all human 
instrumentality ; removing all ignorance by inspira- 
tion, and conquering all ungodliness by grace. 
But has he ever done so? The Israelites were 
not instructed without a lawgiver and law. When 
the law was neglected they lost almost all their 
knowledge of God, If ever religion revived among 
them it was through the piety of a monarch like 
David, or through the rebukes of a prophet like 
Elijah. When affliction was sent to reclaim them 
from idolatry, direct instruction was added, nor 
did the exiles return to Jerusalem except by the 
exhortations of Daniel, and under the guidance 
of Nehemiah and Zerubbabel. Christianity itself, 
though it involved miracles the most stupendous 
was propagated by men. The agents employed 
were indeed feeble, and owed all their success to 
the power and grace of God ; but their agency was 
still essential. Nor from that time to this has 
the Almighty in a single instance carried on his 
work in the world without a suitable instrumenta- 
lity. Will he then, in accomplishing the final 



Rev. xi. 15, 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 99 

triumphs of the Gospel, depart from the method 
which he has hitherto employed? Is the Gospel 
to prevail throughout the world hy the agency of 
his people, or without their aid ? If I mistake not, 
he has sufficiently declared his purpose. 

While he was upon the earth, our Lord, behold- 
ing the numbers ready to be instructed in divine 
truth, but destitute of instructors, said to his 
disciples: " The harvest truly is plenteous, hut the 
labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord 
of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into 
his harvest." 1 Now the Bible was given, not for 
one nation and one age, but for all nations through 
all ages : unless therefore the Scriptures intimate, 
that what was his will then is his will no longer, 
we are bound still to make that prayer and to act 
in harmony with it. In other words, if the harvest 
is to be reaped, we must send forth the reapers. The 
same remark applies to a passage in the Epistle to 
the Romans, " Whosoever shall call upon the name of 
the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call 
on him, in whom they have not believed? and how 
shall they believe in him of whom they have not 
heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" 2 
As in that day the agency of a preacher was neces- 
sary to bring those who knew not the Lord to call 
upon him, so unless there is some express decision 
of the Scriptures to the contrary, it must be neces- 
sary now. But so far are we from finding any 



1 Matt. ix. 37, 38. 



2 Rom. x. 13, 14. 
F 2 



100 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

express decision of the Scriptures to the contrary, 
that its predictions clearly show it to be the will 
of God that the nations of the earth should be 
converted by the instrumentality which has hitherto 
been employed. 

The first prediction which I will cite is con- 
tained in the following words from the fifty-fourth 
chapter of Isaiah. " Sing, O barren, thou that 
didst not bear; break forth into singing, and erg 
aloud, thou that didst not travail with child : for 
more are the children of the desolate than the children 
of the married wife, saith the Lord. Enlarge the 
place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the cur- 
tains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy 
cords, and strengthen thy stakes ; for thoushalt break 
forth on the right hand and on the left ; and thy seed 
shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities 
to be inhabited." 1 St. Paul has explained this pas- 
sage in the following words, " Tell me, ye that 
desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law ? 
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the 
one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 
But he who was of the bondwoman was born after 
the flesh ; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 
Which things are an allegory: for these are the 
two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, 
which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For 
this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answer eth 
to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with 



1 Isaiah liv. 1—3. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 101 

her children. But Jerusalem which is above is 
free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, 
Rejoice thou barren that bearest not ; break forth 
and cry, thou that travailest not : for the desolate 
hath many more children than she which hath an 
husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are 
the children of promise." 1 The Jewish nation then 
is represented by Hagar ; the church of God in 
the Jewish nation by Sarah. The bondwoman and 
her son were Jerusalem, and her children, in the 
bondage of the law. Sarah and Isaac were the 
heavenly Jerusalem, or the church of God among 
the Jews, with all the Gentile converts. Before 
the birth of Isaac, Hagar became the married 
wife, and Sarah was desolate. So before the coming 
of Christ, the Jews had many temporal blessings ; 
while religion being almost gone, and discoun- 
tenanced by the Jewish rulers, the church of God 
was, like Sarah, desolate. This prophecy then 
refers to the earthly Jerusalem and to the heavenly, 
to the Jewish nation and the church of God. 
The nation of the Jews was now to be brought 
low, cast out like Hagar and her son, the first 
covenant waxing old and ready to vanish away ; 2 
while on the other hand the time to favour Sion 
was come, and the church of God at Jerusalem 
was to enlarge on every hand, filling cities hitherto 
ungodly with enlightened believers, and inheriting 



1 Gal. iv. 21—28. 



2 Heb. viii. 13. 



102 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



the Gentiles too by the triumphs of Jewish evan- 
gelists throughout the civilized world. 

But though the first age saw a glorious accom- 
plishment of this prediction in the successes of the 
first Christian evangelists, yet why must the ac- 
complishment stop there. The promise is, " thy 
seed shall inherit the Gentiles" and while three- 
fourths of the earth remain utterly desolate, still 
much more must be done before we have seen 
its full accomplishment. But if so, then the same 
instrumentality is likely to be employed still. It 
is one prophecy ; and the mode of fulfilment in 
the first age of Christianity will in all probability 
be the mode of fulfilment to the end. If one 
fourth part of the Gentiles has been won to the 
church, by the members of that church becoming 
Christian evangelists, it remains that the other 
three-fourths are to be won by Christian evan- 
gelists too. 

Let us now compare the sixtieth chapter with 
this. In the fifty-fourth, there are great promises 
to a favoured community. In the sixtieth, there 
are also great promises to some community, and 
upon examination these communities appear to be 
the same. Both had been greatly afflicted, 1 the 
one had been desolate and forsaken, 2 the other 
smitten in wrath. 3 The one should inherit the Gen- 

1 Isaiah liv. 11.; lx. 14, 15. 2 Isaiah liv. 1, 4, 6. 

3 Isaiah lx. 10. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



103 



tiles, 1 the other should also inherit them ; 2 to 
the one God said, " For a small moment have I 
forsaken thee ; but with great mercies will I gather 
thee ;" 3 to the other, " In my wrath I smote thee, 
but in my favour have I had mercy on thee" 41 The 
walls of the one should be built of precious stones. 5 
To the other were promised the glory of Lebanon, 
to make the place of the feet of Jehovah glorious. 6 
Of the one it was said, " Whosoever shall gather 
together against thee shall fall for thy sake :" 7 
of the other, " The nation and kingdom that ivill 
not serve thee shall perish ; yea, those nations shall 
be utterly wasted"* One received this promise: 
" In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou 
shalt be far from oppression ; for thou shalt not 
fear : and from terror ; for it shall not come near 
thee;" 9 to the other it was declared, " Violence 
shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor 
destruction within thy borders ; but thou shalt call 
thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise." 10 

From these similar promises it is plain that 
the same community is spoken of in both the 
chapters, and since the fifty-fourth of Isaiah is 
declared by St. Paul to refer to the church of God, 
the sixtieth must also refer to it. And this is 
rendered more clear from the prediction in the 

1 Isaiah liv. 3. 2 Isaiah lx. 3, 5, 10, 12. 

3 Isaiah liv. 7. 4 Isaiah lx. 10. 

3 Isaiah liv. 11,12. 6 Isaiah lx. 13. 

7 Isaiah liv. 15. 8 Isaiah lx. 12. 

9 Isaiah liv. 14. 10 Isaiah lx. 18. 



104 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



fourteenth verse. " They shall call thee The city of 
the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel" 
For this is the name by which the church of God 
is designated in the New Testament : " Ye are 
come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the 
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an in- 
numerable company of angels, to the general as- 
sembly and church of the first-horn, which are 
written in heaven" 1 If this be the true appli- 
cation of this prophecy, then we must observe 
that here it is distinctly predicted that it is the 
spiritual glory of the church which is to attract 
to it all nations. "Arise, shine; for thy light 
is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon 
thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the 
earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord 
shall arise upon thee, and his glory skall be seen upon 
thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy 

LIGHT, AND KINGS TO THE BRIGHTNESS OF THY 

rising." 2 It is then when the grace of God 
shall shine resplendently in the universal church, 
that the triumphs of the first age of Christianity 
will be surpassed. 

The first Christians led on by the Apostles of 
our Lord, resplendent in holiness, faith, love, 
benevolence, humility, spirituality, integrity and 
devoted zeal, exhibiting such virtues as the world 
had never seen, gathering strength from opposi- 
tion, honour from shame, and triumph from suffer- 



1 Heb. xii. 22. 



2 Isaiah lx. 1 — 3. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



105 



ing, compelled both nations and kings to acknow- 
ledge the truth of Christianity : when the same 
grace shall again fill the hearts of Christians in 
general, then the universal church, like a gorgeous 
temple, built up of glittering gems, and illuminated 
by supernatural light within, will shed unearthly 
lustre on the earth's midnight gloom. All eyes 
will observe it, all hearts will be attracted, and 
nations coming to its light, it will be seen to be 
the instrument in the hands of God for converting 
the whole world. 

The same truth is further declared by the fol- 
lowing prediction in the second of Isaiah. " It 
shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain 
of the Lord's house shall be established in the top 
of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the 
hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let 
us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house 
of the God of Jacob ; and he will teach us of his 
ways, and we will walk in his paths : for out of 

ZlON SHALL GO FORTH THE LAW, AND THE WORD 

of the Lord from Jerusalem." 1 Three things 
are here predicted : first, that Mount Sion or the 
church of God shall be exalted above every other 
community; secondly, that many nations should 
attach themselves to it ; and thirdly, that the im- 
mediate cause of their uniting themselves to it 
would be the instruction which it should send forth. 



1 Isaiah xi. 2,3. 

F 3 



106 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



In other words, it is the purpose of God that 
Christian evangelists shall be sent ont to the na- 
tions of the world, by whom they are to be brought 
into communion with the church, and to a par- 
ticipation in its blessings. This is also predicted 
in the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah. The fifty-third 
having described the sufferings of our Saviour, and 
the fifty-fourth, the consequent enlargement and 
prosperity of his church, the fifty-fifth contains 
an invitation to sinners to seek a share in these 
blessings, and ends thus : " Ye shall go out with 
joy, and be led forth with peace : the mountains 
and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, 
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and 
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree ; 
and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an ever- 
lasting sign that shall not be cut off" 1 These 
words predict a moral renovation of the world, in 
which men, hitherto as noxious and useless as the 
brier and the thorn, shall become like the fir and 
the myrtle, dignified with every noblest principle 
and fragrant with each amiable affection; while all 
the sorrow which sin had made to settle over 
the earth should be changed into a joy as universal 
as though the sweetest melody were to echo from 
every mountain, and ring through every forest 
of the earth. But that which is to accomplish 
throughout the world this moral renovation, at- 



1 Isaiah lv. 12, 13. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



107 



tended with such spiritual joy, is, that the preachers 
of the Gospel should go forth to proclaim the 
Saviour. Before them alone will the mountains 
burst into singing; their progress alone will create 
this univeral exultation. 

Further, when the prophet Daniel recalled to 
the mind of Xebuchadnezzar, the image of four 
metals which he had seen in a prophetic dream, 
he added, " Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out 
without hands, which smote the image upon his feet 
that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces. 
Then teas the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and 
the gold broken to pieces together, and became like 
the chaff of the summer threshing-floors ; and the 
wind carried them away, that no place was found 
for them : and the stone that smote the image be- 
came a great mountain and filled the whole earth." 1 
Each separate part of that image represented a 
separate monarchy, and the stone which struck 
the image was thus explained, " In the days of 
these kings shall the God of heaven set up a 
kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the 
kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it 
shall break in pieces and consume all these king- 
doms, and it shall stand for ever." 2 That stone is 
the church of Christ, cut out from the mountain 
mass of ungodliness in the world, without hands, 
that is, by the power and grace of God. It is this 
church which is to strike the image. 3 It is this 

1 Dan.ii.34, 35. 2 Dan. ii. 44. 3 Dan. ii. 34. 

f4 



108 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



church of God which is to break in pieces and con- 
sume all antichristian institutions, and then grow 
into a mountain to fill the whole earth. Next let 
us remember our Saviour's decisive language, " Go 
ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all 
things whatsoever I have commanded you : and, lo, 
I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. 
Amen" 1 Then to the end of the world are his 
disciples to teach all who need instruction ; to the 
end of the world his presence will make their 
ministry effectual. 

I will only add, that in the Apocalypse just 
before the prophet heard the prophetic angel ex- 
claim, " Babylon is fallen," 2 and before he saw 
one like unto the Son of Man gathering the ripe 
harvest of the world, 3 he first " saw another angel 
fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting 
Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, 
and to every nation, and hindred, and. tongue and 
people;" 41 apparently to show that this universal 
publication of the Gospel should first destroy the 
apostate church of Rome, and then lead to the 
ingathering of ail nations to the church of Christ. 

As then one series of predictions lead us to expect 
with perfect confidence that the world shall even- 
tually be converted, so the other intimates that 
Christians will be employed to convert it. But 

1 Matt, xxviii.19, 20. 2 Rev. xiv. 8, 

3 Rev. xiv. 16. 4 Rev. xiv. 6. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 109 

if the world is to be converted, and if Christians 
are to be employed for its conversion, then sooner 
or later missions must have the most ample 
triumph; and under that very instrumentality, 
however despised, the world will one day be con- 
verted to Christ. With these promises before 
them, Christians are not permitted to hesitate. 
God has engaged to crown their efforts with suc- 
cess, and what are difficulties ? When Israel was 
trembling on the shore of the Eed Sea, and the 
Lord said, " Speak unto the children of Israel 
that they go forward" was it for them to allege 
that the ocean was impassable, and the command a 
mockery? And what more right have we to doubt 
and disobey, when the Lord says, " Go ye into all 
the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature," 
because we have a sea of difficulties to pass 
through ? Whatever those difficulties may be, 
they are nothing to the Omnipotent ; and he has 
said they shall yield. 

Let it be echoed then by ten thousand tongues, 
and ten thousand times repeated, that it is hope- 
less to attempt the conversion of the heathen ; 
those engaged in this great cause can bear to 
hear the worst. It may be said, that tribes in a 
state of barbarism are too ferocious to be tamed, or 
too degraded to receive instruction ; that instruction 
must precede Christianity ; and that to preach to 
them is to plough the rock or rain upon the desert. 
In more civilized nations, as India, it may be 
said, the work is still more fruitless. There, a 



110 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

faith so ancient, that its origin is lost in a remote 
antiquity, has been transmitted through uncounted 
generations, has received universal homage, and 
is now held by consentient millions: poets have 
adorned its legends, and sages enforced its maxims: 
its deities fill each of the elements, and occupy 
almost every spot: its priesthood have unlimited 
influence ; its rites are mingled with all transac- 
tions ; and its festivals are the sunny spots of life : 
affection and terror combine to hold fast its de- 
votees. For a Hindoo to renounce his creed is for 
him to become a friendless outcast, the object of 
enmity and scorn. Tell him of the miracles of 
Jesus, and he pleads the mightier miracles of 
Vishnoo : tell him of the holiness of God, and he 
thinks of the sanctity of some profligate Fakir : 
speak to him of the need of an atonement, and he 
replies that the Ganges can wash away his sins : 
intreat him by the terrors of the last judgment, 
and he will rather hazard them than sacrifice his 
property, be disowned by his family, and cast 
out by all the world beside. Plead that numbers 
in Europe believe in Christ, and he will reply that 
greater numbers in Asia believe in Bramah. Re- 
count your list of great and good men who have 
written, preached, and bled in defence of Chris- 
tianity; Hindooism also has its philosophers, its 
devotees, and its martyrs. And even should all 
his arguments be answered, and his judgment be 
on the side of Christianity, the slightest gain or 
pleasure may sweep away his convictions, and when 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. Ill 

you think that you have been engraving your 
lessons upon steel, you will find that you have only 
been tracing characters on the sand. To all this 
it is enough for the Christian to reply, that God has 
commanded the Gospel to be preached, and it shall 
be; God has promised to bless that preaching, 
and it will be blessed. Against all sorts of dis- 
couragements the Christian may set the fixed pur- 
pose of God to make the Gospel triumph. Christ has 
said, " 2, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw 
all men unto me" and sooner will heaven and earth 
pass than that word fail. As surely as Christ bore 
our sins in his own body on the tree, so surely 
shall that love which passes knowledge, at length 
constrain all the nations of the earth to live no 
longer to themselves but to him. We need there- 
fore no evidence that missions are practicable, 
we know they must be ; we demand no proof that 
they can penetrate heathen nations, and subdue 
them to Christ, he has decreed that they shall : and 
all sorts of difficulties must at length be sur- 
mounted ; and delay, however long, must at length 
issue in complete success. 

But let it not be thought that we dwell so much 
on those divine injunctions and promises which 
supersede the necessity of an enquiry into the proof 
of the practicability of missions derived from ex- 
perience, because that proof is wanting. On the 
contrary, the evidence is abundant, as I will now 
proceed to show. The heathen nations to whom 



112 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

Christian missionaries are sent may be divided into 
the barbarous and the semi-civilized. Among the 
semi-civilized are the Hindoos, the Indo-Chinese, 
and the Chinese. Among the barbarous may be 
numbered, the South Sea Islanders and the inha- 
bitants of the Sandwich Isles, the Greenlanders 
and the Esquimaux. Each of these great divisions 
of the heathen world has its advantages and dis- 
advantages ; in each there are circumstances which 
aid the missionary ; in each there are others which 
oppose him. The work is so distinct in each, that 
success in the one may not at once be inferred from 
success in the other. If the Gospel should make 
great impression on savages, it might be repelled 
by those who were more civilized. If it converted 
thousands in more civilized communities, it might 
prove fruitless among barbarians. But happily we 
have independent proof of the accessibility of both 
divisions of the heathen world. There are none 
among the heathen too low to be elevated, too 
stupid to be convinced, too ferocious to be tamed, 
too sensual to be reclaimed, too inert to be in- 
terested, or too proud to be abased. 



SECTION FIRST. — PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS TO 
BARBAROUS NATIONS. 



Let me begin with the missions to savages. 
First. Greenland. — When Matthew Stach and 
Christian Stach first landed on the shores of Green- 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



113 



land in 1733, and were joined the year following 
by Frederick Boenish and John Beck, there was 
little to encourage them in the circumstances of 
the inhabitants. Their mode of living was filthy 
and disgusting in the extreme; 1 their houses were 
constructed of large stones, with earth and sods 
instead of mortar, the roof being covered with sods 
and earth, not unlike the poorer cabins in Ireland; 
and they lived chiefly on seals, which furnished 
them with food, clothing, and bedding, with cover- 
ings for their boats, and with oil for their lamps, 
which through the long winter nights hung sus- 
pended from the low roofs of their huts. 2 When 
the missionaries first entered on their labours at 
New Herrnhut, few were willing to afford them 
a lodging even when offered money for it ; and 
when they visited a native he would frequently 
ask them whether they were not soon going away 
again. 3 For some time they had scarcely any 
opportunities of being useful to the people. " Few 
called upon them, except when driven by necessity 
to obtain victuals ; and when they did, they showed 
an utter aversion to religious discourse. If a mis- 
sionary tarried with them more than one night, 
they used every diabolical art to entice him to 
join in their dissolute practices : and not succeeding 
in this, they endeavoured to vex and irritate him 
by mockeries, and by mimicking his reading, pray- 

1 Holmes' Historical Sketches of the Missions of the United 
Brethren, 13. 

5 lb. 9. 3 lb. 15. 



1H 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



ing, and singing, or by interrupting his devotions 
by their hideous howling and the noise of their 
drums." .... " When the savages found that 
they could effect nothing in this way, they resorted 
to other measures. They insulted and maltreated 
their persons. They pelted them with stones; 
climbed upon their shoulders ; destroyed their 
goods ; and even attempted to spoil their boat, 
or drive her out to sea ; which would have de- 
prived them of their chief means of support, and 
must in every respect have proved fatal to them. 
Their cruelty did not stop here. One night the 
missionaries perceived that some person was endea- 
vouring to draw aside the curtains of their tent, 
which were fastened with a couple of pins. Going 
out to see who it was, they beheld to their amaze- 
ment, a number of Greenlanders with knives in 
their hands ; nor could they drive them away, 
till they threatened them with their fire-arms. Our 
missionaries supposed their only intention was to 
take away the skins, which covered the tent : but 
some years after they learned that the savages had 
conspired against their lives, expecting that the 
other Europeans would not deem it worth their 
while to revenge the death of such poor despised 
people.' 3 "Those that lived at a distance were 
stupid, ignorant, and void of reflection ; and those 
in the vicinity, who had long been instructed, were 
not grown better but rather worse ; they appeared 
disgusted with religious discourse, and hardened 
against the truth. Sometimes they urged their 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



115 



want of understanding as an excuse, and would 
say, ' Show us the God you describe, then will 
we believe in him and serve him.'" .... u At 
other times they exerted their wit in shocking* and 
profane jests at the most sacred mysteries of re- 
ligion." 1 "Five years thus passed without any ap- 
parent effect being produced. At length a man 
named Kayarnak hearing from the missionary Beck 
one day the history of our Lord's sufferings, was 
deeply interested. His conviction ended in faith, 
and on Easter Sunday, 1739, he was baptized. 
This was only a signal for persecution. His bro- 
ther-in-law, who had come to live with the mis- 
sionaries, was murdered ; another was threatened, 
and Kayarnak himself fled in terror from the 
missionary settlement." 2 But like the early Chris- 
tians who were driven by persecution from Jeru- 
salem, he only retired from the malice of his 
enemies, to preach Christ to others ; and in about 
a year he returned to New Herrnhut, where he 
aided the missionaries in the instruction of the 
heathen, till his death in 1741. Meanwhile the 
number of inquirers began to increase. At the 
close of 1748 no less than two hundred and thirty 
resided at the settlement, of whom thirty-five were 
baptized in that year after giving satisfactory proofs 
of real conversion. In 1747 the brethren erected 
their first church. 3 After this the settlement con- 



i Holmes, 23, 24. 
3 lb. 35, 36. 



2 lb. 29, 30. 



116 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



tinued to prosper. " The number annually added 
to the church by baptism was between thirty and 
forty, and some years it exceeded fifty," and " the 
inhabitants in 1769 amounted to five hundred and 
forty." 1 At the same time the mission began to 
enlarge. In 1758 the brethren founded the settle- 
ment of Lichtenfels. Various families soon placed 
themselves under their discipline, and in a few 
years the congregation there amounted to two 
hundred and ninety persons. 2 The settlement at 
Lichtenau followed in 1774, where in a few years 
the number of baptized natives amounted to two 
hundred and five. 3 

Up to this day the three settlements have con- 
tinued to receive the blessing of God. 

In August, 1824, a fourth settlement was founded, 
which received the name of Fredericksthal. 4 Many 
natives flocked in, so that in the first winter the in- 
habitants amounted to two hundred and fifty. De- 
cember 19th, forty were admitted into the church by 
baptism. 5 Since that time God has been pleased 
to continue to bless his Word, and in the year 1836, 
there were in the four congregations sixteen hundred 
and seventy-nine baptized persons under Christian 
discipline, living on these four missionary settle- 
ments, and affording abundant proof that God can 
by his Word and by his Spirit elevate the most 



E Holmes, 46. 2 lb. 45. 

4 Moravians in Greenland. 2nd Edit. 283. 

5 lb. 286. 



lb. 48. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



117 



degraded to intelligence, and change the apathy 
of the most indifferent into earnestness. 

Secondly. New Zealand. — The prospects of the 
first missionaries to New Zealand, who at the close 
of 1814 landed at the Bay of Islands, 1 were not 
more encouraging than those of the Moravian 
brethren, who first settled on the coast of Green- 
land. They were come to a people who were proud 
and cruel, capricious and revengeful, who without 
the knowledge of God and the wish for civilization, 
were devoted to a life of plunder, and lived in 
perpetual strife. So recently as the year 1809, 
the crew of the English ship Boyd, and nearly 
all the passengers, had been massacred at Wan- 
garoa, a few miles to the north of the first mis- 
sionary station, Rangioua. A chief having engaged 
himself as a common sailor for the voyage from 
Port Jackson to New Zealand, was flogged and 
insulted on board for alleged idleness, and no sooner 
did he touch the shore than he roused his country- 
men to fury. Captain Thompson the commander, 
and several of the sailors were murdered on land- 
ing; the vessel was then seized ; nearly all on board 
were massacred ; and the mangled bodies of about 
seventy Europeans formed a bloody banquet for 
the cannibal assassins. 2 Among this people the 
missionaries had much to bear. It was long before 
they could make them at all comprehend that they 

1 Yates' New Zealand, 167. 

2 Nicholas' Voyage to New Zealand, i. 147 — 149. 



118 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



came to do them good. And as they were defence- 
less and despised, they had to endure all sorts of 
vexations. Though often kind, the natives, with 
the caprice of savages, were also often intolerably 
rude. When a school was formed, children would 
all leave unless paid for coming. At the sound of 
the chapel bell on the Sabbath, the natives would 
immediately run away to fish, or row their canoes. 
If any came to worship, they would start up in 
the middle of the service and call out, " That's a 
lie, that's a lie, let us all go." 1 

Sometimes the missionaries had to witness 
horrid scenes of cruelty. On the 1st of February, 
1820, Mr. Kemp saw a slave girl lying among the 
fern nearly dead from starvation. There were 
natives near; but none of them gave her any help. 
That day he sent her food : the next clay when 
he went again, they had been pelting her with 
stones, one of which, weighing several pounds, still 
lay ujDon her emaciated body : she could neither 
speak nor eat ; and the day after that she died. 2 

Sometimes their own lives were threatened. Two 
hundred of them would rush upon a single mis- 
sionary, armed with spears, clubs, and loaded 
muskets, " assuming the most terrific postures, and 
uttering the most fiend-like yells." 3 If this was 
only to excite his terror, it showed at least how 
little they respected him. In fact each missionary 

1 Yate, 170, 173, 174. 

2 Twenty-second Church Missionary Report, 359. 

3 Yate, 170. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



119 



was despised, insulted, and mocked. They would 
come into his house when they pleased, and steal 
all that they could find. 1 Sometimes they would 
stand outside, pelt the house with stones, kill the 
goats, steal the fowls, break the fences, and use 
all manner of obscene and threatening language. 2 
Sometimes they would trample down the growing- 
crops, or ran over the beds of the garden ; then 
they would come into the house and eat all the 
food which was dressed : and sometimes besides 
eating the dinner prepared for the family, they 
would break the plates and dishes, and take away 
the knives and forks. In the middle even of the 
night, thieves would invade their premises, and 
on one occasion they broke into Mr. Puckey's 
house, and while some stole what they could find, 
two of them laid hold of his son by his hair, threat- 
ening to sever his head with their hatchets if he 
uttered a word. 3 At length their violence so in- 
creased, that, apprehending their lives were in 
danger, the missionaries sent to Sydney all their 
property, not absolutely necessary for present use, 
and were themselves prepared to leave the island at 
any moment. 4 

Another great obstacle to their success has been 

1 Twenty-second Church Missionary Report, 200, 355, 360; 
Missionary Register for 1817, 347; Register for 1818, 526 ; 
Twenty-seventh Church Missionary Report, 159, 350, &c. &c. 

2 Twenty-seventh Church Missionary Report, 157. 

3 Twenty-second Church Missionary Report, 355, 356. 

4 Twenty-seventh Church Missionary Report, 163, 164. 



120 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



the conduct of the Europeans. There are eight 
or ten respectable families in the Bay of Islands, 
but all the rest are a disgrace to their country. 
About four hundred runaway convicts and seamen, 
degraded below the level of the heathen themselves, 
live by selling grog, or by practices more infamous. 
They are drunken, profligate, and profane ; quarrel 
and fight with one another ; ridicule and calumniate 
the missionaries ; will never listen to their remon- 
strances ; and live without any recognition of 
God. To the influence of these wicked men, the 
European and American crews add theirs. The sai- 
lors that come into the bay are frequently drunken, 
profligate, and profane, and the captains will not 
or cannot controul them. Occasionally, European 
traders are guilty of the most atrocious barbarity. 
Some have massacred many of the natives in cold 
blood ; and some have carried on a traffic in human 
heads, the supply of which must have been often 
procured for the trade by wholesale murders. 1 The 

1 See the evidence given before the Lords by Messrs. Watkins, 
Flatt, and Polack, the Rev. F. Wilkinson, and Captain Fitzroy : 
and Polack's New Zealand, ii. 115. 

" It must be added that many masters of colonial trading vessels 
have, for the paltry interested consideration of a few tons of flax, 
done every thing that villany could devise to aid these miserable 
savages in destroying each other. A man, if he deserves the appel- 
lative, named Stewart, commanded a brig called the ' Elizabeth,' 
and sailed from Port Jackson in 1831; he directed his course to 
Cook's Strait, in search of flax to fill his vessel. On arriving at 
the flax district, he inquired for the article he was in quest of, when 
the natives told him, if he would help them to destroy their ene- 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



121 



consequence has been that to this day, notwith- 
standing the neighbourhood of the missionaries, 
and all their influence with the people, Kororarika, 
the principal village of the bay, at which the ships 
touch, and where these Europeans live, is the very 
worst place in the island. 1 During nearly fifteen 
years, the natives manifested much indifference to 
the instruction given by the missionaries in the 
Bay of Islands, and forbade their settling in any 
of the villages in the interior. Meanwhile, not- 
withstanding all these discouragements, they con- 
tinued their benevolent labours: they translated 
various books ; cultivated a little land ; built better 
houses than the natives had before seen; raised 
chapels ; held public worship on the Lord's day ; 
persevered in their schools; talked with all who' 
would listen; administered medicine to the sick; 
and in every way returned good for evil. By de- 
grees they obtained the confidence and respect of 
the people, more of them began to listen, and the 

mies, his assistance should be rewarded with a cargo of flax. The 
perfidious wretch instantly agreed, took as passengers a large 
number of native warriors, and sailed for Banks' Peninsula. On 
arriving off the coast, Stewart decoyed the principal chiefs and 
families on board, when they were immediately put in confinement 
A great number of the natives of the district were thus decoyed put 
to death with tortures, and actually cooked in the ships coppers 
and when the inhabitants could no longer be induced to -o on 
board the floating Golgotha, Stewart and the natives went on shore 
destroyed all they could find, and set fire to the villages "-Polack' 
ii. 113, 114. 

1 See Evid. passim. 

G 



122 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

mission gradually enlarged. Up to 1819 Rangi- 
hona was the only station; in 1819 they founded 
a second at Kerikeri; in 1823 they added that of 
Paihia, and in 1830 they planted a fourth in a 
populous district at Wainiate. Since that time 
the mission has advanced rapidly; in 1834 three 
more stations were added, and in 1835 still three 
others. So that there are now ten stations, of 
which five are in the neighbourhood of the River 
Thames, far to the south of the Bay of Islands. In 
these ten stations there are now thirty-three mis- 
sionaries, most of them married, with two female 
teachers. These by their just, peaceable, and be- 
nevolent conduct, have obtained general esteem. 
They have " not only the respect of the chiefs, but 
the respect of the settlers of all descriptions whose 
respect was worth having. All the principal settlers 
look up to the missionaries, and acknowledge the 
value of their protection ; and they say, to any one 
who asks them the question, that they could not 
remain in the island without the missionaries." 1 
Under their care the schools are more than fifty- 
four in number, with 1431 scholars. For these and 
for the other natives they have printed at the mis- 
sion press the New Testament, the Liturgy, a 
hymn book, school books, arithmetical tables, and 
tracts in the native language. 2 Above seventy acres 

1 Evidence of Captain R. Fitzroy, R. N., 162. The testimony 
of Mr. Polack is to the same effect. Evidence, 84. 

2 Evidence, 196. Thirty-eighth Church Missionary Report. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 123 



are under cultivation in the missionary farm ; the 
superintendent grows wheat enough for the supply 
of the whole mission; and he has a two-horse thresh- 
ing machine and a water-mill for grinding flour. 1 
Encouraged by his example, the natives of the 
neighbourhood are beginning to grow wheat. In 
1836 they employed fifteen bushels of wheat as 
seed, and have now above forty acres under tillage. 2 
Cattle also, sheep and goats have been introduced 
by the missionaries, and some are now possessed 
by natives. 3 

But schools and crops of corn are not the only 
blessings which the missionaries have imparted. 
God has at length comforted his faithful ser- 
vants, by higher and better success. They know 
too well the solemn profession made in baptism 
to administer that ordinance with indecent and 
mischievous haste. When baptism is adminis- 
tered as it was some years since in the West In- 
dian Islands, and as it has been since indeed 
elsewhere, the enumeration of numbers baptized 
can inspire nothing but sorrow and disgust. 4 

1 Evidence, 197. 2 lb. 197. 3 lb. 189, 191. 

4 Among the official returns to the governors of various islands 
from beneficed clergymen, in consequence of a circular letter from 
Earl Bathurst in 1817, the following extracts are made in Mr. 
Stephen's work on West Indian slavery. " The population of my 
parish may be twenty-four thousand slaves, I can assume to say 
five thousand have been already baptized. Preparatory measures 
for the speedy baptism of the whole are now adopting. Much I 
apprehend will be accomplished by the middle of September; I 
therefore solicit to be allowed till October to transmit my general 

g2 



124 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



Thus the name of Christ is dishonoured. Those 
who are heathenish in opinions and habits still 
bear his name. Men think they are Christians 
when they are not, a sacred ordinance is desecrated, 
intelligent infidels triumph in the folly of professed 
Christians, and the professed Church of Christ, 
instead of being a company of saints and faithful 
brethren, become a mass of corruption. But the 
missionaries in New Zealand baptized those only, 
who by their sound profession of faith and con- 
sistent life, appeared to be the subjects of Divine 
grace. 1 

return. The fee is now established by law at two shillings and 
sixpence for each slave, and is paid in my parish by the proprie- 
tary." Another rector writes, " Since the passing of the Curate's 
Bill I have baptized upon an average fifty or sixty every Sunday; 
so that with what were baptized previous to the passing of the said 
bill, the great majority of the negroes in this parish are become 
Christians, arid in a very short time all will be so." Another 
writes, " Of late, there has been an increasing disposition among 
them (the slaves) to receive baptism ; and within the last twelve 
months nearly three thousand of their names have been registered.' 7 — 
Stephen, i. 225, 226. All these poor slaves continued untaught 
pagans till the passing of the Curate's Bill, which entitled clergy- 
men to a fee of 2s. 6d. for each baptism, and then twenty-four 
thousand in one parish were made Christians at once, without 
instruction, examination, or subsequent discipline, or any change 
in their habits, to live and die almost like those animals upon 
whom the holy water is sprinkled by the priests at Rome, on the 
feast of St. Antonio. 

i When Mr. Wilkinson was crossing from Hokianga to the Bay 
of Islands, he lodged at the house of a native. They gave him a 
hearty welcome, a clean blanket, and a bed of fern. Several mem- 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 125 

Hence therefore the list of their baptized natives 
may be taken as generally less than the list of real 
Christians among their flocks, because if they would 
sometimes think those to be pious who were not 
really so, many others would be really pious before 
their teachers would have the opportunity of know- 
ing it. Many years passed before they baptized one 
convert: but at length, in 1830, eight adults were 
baptized; and many more began to manifest a work 
of grace in their hearts. 1 These had increased in 
1835 to sixty-four communicants. 2 Since that time 
the progress of the infant church has been more 
rapid. In one year (1834-5) nineteen men and fif- 
teen women were baptized at Waimate. 3 October 4, 
1835, twenty-nine more were there baptized ; March 
13, 1836, forty-four; May 3, eleven; May 22, 
three; and November 20, fifteen; lastly, April 2, 
1837, twenty-six men were added to the church. 
At other stations similar blessings have been 
granted, though, the natives being fewer, the con- 
verts have been also less numerous, and on the 
whole, the little band of Christ's disciples has been 
since 1830 continually multiplying. On the 4th of 

bers of the family having Testaments, after supper a chapter was 
read in the native language, they then knelt down and prayed ; and 
this was repeated in the morning. The head of that family was 
an unbaptized member of the congregation at Waimate.— Evi- 
dence, 97. 

1 Thirty-first Church Missionary Report, 53. 

2 Thirty-sixth Church Missionary Report, 47. 

3 Evidence, 194. 



126 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



September, 1836, there were at the Waimate chapel 
120 native communicants, 1 and both there and in 
the other stations, the congregations are often so 
great that numbers are obliged to stand without. 
But the Gospel is now preached beyond the limits 
to which the missionaries are obliged to confine 
their personal exertions. In 1831, Aparahama, a 
converted youth, began to speak to his countrymen. 
By his means Ripi was converted. 2 Thenceforth 
that chief began to preach to his own tribe and 
to others. 3 Others have since been selected for 
similar employments, and at this time there are 
no less than thirty-four native teachers. 4 Some 
of these are stationed in villages for which no 
missionary can be spared : and others itinerate to 
considerable distances from the missionary stations, 
preaching the Word, by whom natives are brought 
to the missionaries from a distance of forty miles. 5 
Numbers are now learning to read the Scriptures 
who have never been in the missionary schools; 
and on the whole Mr. Coates considers that the 
influence of the mission is in various ways extended 
to about two-thirds of the northern island. 6 The 
following is the tabular view of the present extent 
of the mission given by Mr. Coates in his evidence 
before the Lords. 7 

1 Evidence, 192. 

2 Thirty-second Church Missionary Report, 66. 

3 Thirty-third Church Missionary Report, 60. 

4 Thirty-eighth Church Missionary Report. 

5 Evidence, 195. 6 lb. 254. 7 lb. 185, 186. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



127 



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128 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

Considering the piety and caution of the mis- 
sionaries, these figures most eloquently tell us how 
the work of the Lord is prospering in their hands. 
So rapid an extension after so long delay, proves 
that the Gospel is threatening the idolatry of the 
whole island. Meanwhile the fruits of piety among 
those converted are already abundant. Mr. Mars- 
den, the founder of the mission, whose heart first 
pitied their degradation, whose zeal animated the 
Society at home, who often crossed the ocean from 
New South Wales to promote their welfare, and 
never would despair of their conversion, was per- 
mitted ere his death to render them one last service, 
by leaving on record, in a letter dated May 6, 1837, 
the following testimony to the state of the mis- 
sionary settlements: "Since my arrival I have 
visited many of the stations within the compass of 
100 miles, and have observed a wonderful change 
has taken place within the last seven years. The 
portions of the Sacred Scriptures which have been 
printed have had a most astonishing effect. They 
are read every where by the natives where I have 
been. The natives teach one another, and find great 
pleasure in the Word of God, and carry that sa- 
cred treasure with them wherever they go. Great 
numbers have been baptized, both chiefs and their 
people. I have met with some very pious chiefs, 
who have been intreated by Pomare and Titore 
to join them in their present war, but they have 
refused. I met with one pious chief who was a 
great warrior, and was severely wounded in action 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 129 

the very day I arrived in New Zealand on my last 
visit; who informed me Titore had sent for him, 
but he would fight no more. I visited his station ; 
he has built a neat clean place of worship, which 
is visited by the missionaries. In this he teaches 
school, as well as his son. I am at present at 
Waimate, which was formerly one of the most 
warlike districts in the islands ; and I could not 
learn that one individual had joined the contending 
jDarties. Waimate is the most moral and orderly 
place I ever was in. A great number of the inhabi- 
tants for some miles have been baptized, and live 
like Christians. There are no riots, drunkenness, 
or swearing or quarrels, but all is order and peace. 
The same effects I have observed produced by the 
Scriptures and labours of the missionaries in other 
districts. My own mind has been exceedingly gra- 
tified with what I have seen and heard, and I have 
no doubt but New Zealand will become a civilized 
nation. I consider the missionaries, as a body, 
very pious, prudent, and laborious men, and that 
they and their children are walking in the admoni- 
tion of the Lord." 1 

I will close this evidence by the equally de- 
cisive testimony of Mr. Polack, who, neither a 
member of the Church of England, nor unhappily 
of the Church of Christ, has very honourably to 
himself given this impartial testimony to the re- 
sult of those missionary efforts, among which he 



1 Evidence, 193. 

G 3 



130 Practicability of missions. 

lived for about four years. " As an individual 
residing in the country, in my transactions with 
a minor portion of the brethren, I have met with 
kindness, hospitality, and politeness. These re- 
marks particularly refer to Messrs. Henry and 
W. Williams, Clarke, Hamblin, Fairburn, Chap- 
man, &c. who have conciliated esteem by the use- 
fulness of their lives. There are doubtless others 
of equally pleasing character, removed in distant 
stations." 1 " To the even conduct of many of 
the present missionaries, despite of the draw- 
backs I have fully stated among the defective 
members of their corps, must be entirely attri- 
buted the marked improvement in the rising gene- 
ration of the people, who reside at some distance 
from the vicinity of reckless runaway sailors, who 
have broken engagements with their employers, and 
prisoners escaped from the penal colonies. The 
mission chapel-houses, &c. are built of timber, brick, 
and a few of stone, in the erection of which the mis- 
sionaries have been assisted by the natives in their 
employ, many of whom are really proficient in the 
trade of house-carpentry, joiners' work, shingling, 
sawing, &c. The struggles of the early mission- 
aries, many of whom are now comfortably located 
in the country, were sorely distressing; nor are 
these difficulties less felt at the present day in the 
new formed stations, where few of the members 
have settled themselves, but at the extreme hazard 
of their lives. 

1 Polack, ii. 146. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 131 



" The Waiinate establishment, fifteen miles to 
the westward of the Bay of Islands, may be re- 
garded as the agricultural settlement of the Society 
in New Zealand. The formation of this farm in 
1830, called forth the torpid mechanical genius of 
the native youth, in making thousands of bricks, 
excavating wells, felling and sawing timber, build- 
ing stalls for horses, cottages, shops for different 
mechanical works ; forming agricultural imple- 
ments, such as ploughs, harrows, waggons, carts, 
and ' last not least,' the erection of a mill for 
grinding corn, which was certainly an era in the 
country, in the progress of mechanism. 

" This mission has done more towards making 
the natives acquainted with improvements in their 
farms, and setting examples of comfort and do- 
mestic felicity, than all the commercial Europeans 
added together ; and but for the previous esta- 
blishment of this Society, commercial men would 
have found it wholly unsafe to reside in the coun- 
try. Secular persons in the employ of the Society 
originally sent to teach the people the value of 
European industry, no longer pursue the different 
trades they originally proposed to teach ; but have 
aided the brethren as catechists. Much praise is 
due to the married females, whose attentions are 
directed to the schools: their conduct has been 
most exemplary, either as wives, mothers, or fast 
friends to the improvement of the natives, whose 
estrangement from their former ferocity of man- 
ners, is to be attributed much to the moral deport- 

g 4 



132 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

merit of our fair countrywomen attached to the 
Church Missionary Society." 1 

On the other hand, the Wesleyan missionaries, 
entering much later upon the work, when their 
way had been cleared by the long-tried patience 
and assiduity of the Church Missionary body, 
have been blessed with more rapid successes. 

Yet even their successes were not won without 
patient endurance of severe trials. Their first station 
at Wangaroa, thirty-five miles IN". W. of the Bay 
of Islands, was established in 1822. 2 " The tribes 
then residing in that beautiful harbour were the 
Na-te hum, amounting to about two hundred 
persons ; the Na-te po occupied the adjacent 
valleys to the number of seven hundred persons. 
The missionaries were well received on their ar- 
rival ; bat they had to undergo privations, insults, 
thefts, of the most exasperating nature, daily and 
hourly demanding from the isolated band boundless 
patience and fortitude ; and from the females of the 
station an heroic courage that is scarcely supposed 
to exist in the female bosom." 3 Some short extracts 
from the Missionary Journals will illustrate this 
statement. " The chief George has occasioned us 
no small degree of trouble. A few days ago he 
came and drove all the natives away whom we 
were employing, used ill language to Mr. Turner, 
said the house was his, and he would knock it 



1 Polack, ii. 150—153, 
3 Polack, ii. 158. 



2 Evid. 207. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



133 



down, and we should not stay," &c. " This morn- 
ing three natives (one of them a principal priest,) 
came and took away by force three spades, with 
which we were working at the bank." " Two 
chiefs behaved very ill to-day ; and one of them, 
because I would not gratify his unreasonable and 
selfish desires, struck the door several times, and 
threatened to knock down the house." " They 
are, indeed, like the troubled sea that cannot rest." 
" One of the principal chiefs brought us a pig for 
which I had paid him beforehand ; but he wanted 
a second payment for it ; it was some time before 
I would give him any thing, at length I gave him 
an iron pot, which was what he wanted ; but when 
he had got that, he claimed a frying-pan also ; 
this I refused to give him, and he then fell into 
a dreadful passion, and took the iron pot and 
dashed it to pieces. I went and left him, but he 
very soon followed me with all the rage of a fiend, 
and pointed his musket twice to shoot me, but the 
Lord withheld him ; he however pushed me about 
the bank, and stormed and threatened much for a 
length of time. Mr. Hobbs and James then came 
up. He said we wanted to make the Xew Zea- 
landers slaves ; and that all we gave them was 
' krakea,' prayers, &c, on all which he poured the 
greatest contempt, and said he did not want to hear 
about Jesus Christ ; he wanted muskets, and pow- 
der, and tomahawks, &c, and if we loved him 
we should give him more of these things. After 
some time he left us, and went back to the house 



134 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

and threatened to kill Mrs. T. and Betsey the 
servant girl, and said he would soon serve us all 
as he did the crew of the Boyd." " About ten 
o'clock, we were informed that the heads of a small 
tribe not far from us had killed one of their slaves, 
and were preparing to eat the body. I went straight 
down to the place and found the chiefs sitting not 
far from the fire, and apparently glad to see me. 
After the usual salute, I went towards the fire and 
asked what they were roasting, and in an instant 
their countenances changed, and confusion, guilt, 
and shame were depicted in them. I went to the 
fire, and God only knows what were my feelings 
when I saw a human being laid at length and 
roasting between two logs, which they had drawn 
together for that purpose." 1 

" Ahoodoo, one of our principal chiefs, got over 
our fences, and came direct to the house. I was 
then working in the yard, and told him it was 
wrong for him to act so, as it was setting others a 
bad example ; this enraged him, and he threatened 
and stormed at some length, shaking his weapon 
over my head, as though he would have cut it off 
immediately." " Young Je Booe, the son of 
Ahoodoo, (who wished to have a dog belonging to 
the missionaries,) came up, and seeing Mr. White 
with the dog in his arms, seized it by the leg and 
broke it ; he then began to beat Mr. White with 
his spear, but was prevented from injuring him 



1 Evid. 209, 210. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 135 

much. At this time I was at my room window, 
and seeing what was going forward, I ran out of 
the house, accompanied by Mr. Hobbs, to Mr. 
W.'s assistance. Before I had got half way over 
our field, I saw Je Booe, who had left Mr. White, 
coming in great haste, with vengeance in his looks, 
and, I believe, destruction in his design. On 
meeting me, without saying a word, he made a 
blow at my head with his spear; I received the 
blow on my left arm. The spear broke in two 
pieces, and with the longest part he attempted to 
spear me, and gave me a severe blow or thrust on 
my left side, but fortunately for me it happened to 
be the blunt end of the spear; on receiving this 
blow I believe I fell senseless, not knowing the 
injury I had received. On seeing him upon me, 
another chief who is very friendly to us ran and 
prevented him from doing me any further injury; 
at this time Ahoodoo, the father of the young man, 
had got Mr. White down by the side of our fence, 
and it is likely would have injured him seriously, 
if not murdered him, had he not been prevented by 
other natives who came and rescued him out of his 
hands." 1 

" A substantial and commodious dwelling-house, 
together with a barn, carpenter's shop, and various 
other out-buildings, had been erected. An ex- 
cellent and productive garden had been formed, 
which, with a plot cultivated for wheat, comprised 

1 Evid 4 214. 



136 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS, 



about four acres. The whole premises were sur- 
rounded by a good fence ; and constituted a re- 
spectable specimen of English colonization in the 
midst of a barbarous people/' 1 

But in January, 1827, E'Ongi (or Shunghi) ar- 
rived at AVangaroa with a fleet of canoes. All the 
natives of the neighbourhood fled. Wednesday, 
Jan. 10, a number of savages, armed with muskets, 
spears, and hatchets, entered the mission ground, 
broke into the mission-house, plundered the mis- 
sionaries of all their property, and drove them out, 
men, women, and little children, to seek shelter 
where they could. 2 In this deplorable condition 
they set out for the nearest church missionary 
station. After their departure the mission build- 
ings, their barn, and their wheat rick were burned 
down, their cattle, goats, and poultry were killed, 
their gardens were laid waste, and the whole settle- 
ment reduced to desolation. 3 The same year how- 
ever Mr. Turner, undeterred by these hardships, 
founded the settlement on the Hokianga. There 
too insult and opposition awaited them. " You 
missionaries," said one chief, " are a set of old 
women. When a spirit comes from the invisible 
world to the Horeke or Mangungu, and tells us 
that he has seen the things of which you speak, 
then we will believe him ; but all the accounts we 
have received as yet have been directly opposite to 



1 Evid. 216. 
3 Ibid. 220. 



2 Ibid. 217,218. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS 



137 



yours. What food do they eat in the world of 
spirit? V Having; been answered that the organs 
of bodily appetite dying with the bodv it would 
want no food, he asked. " How do they see ? How 
do they hear ? What is their einplovment I If a 
brave man dies, how will he be able to exercise his 
bravery ? If there are no places to besiege, must 
he become pacific? Oh. you are a set of old 
women ; you do nothing but place yourselves 
within the precincts of your own dwelling. Are 
there no guns there ? Xo people to right with ?" 
" How many persons have been alreadv raised 
from the dead ? Did you see them I . . . . Oh ! in- 
deed ! you only heard of it from some one else !" 
M I'll come over to you to-morrow.*'' said one, 
" and you shall judge me ; this man shall be con- 
demned because he has a wrv mouth. " 1 Yet did 
they patiently persevere, and God has blessed 
them. 

This mission has been gradually extending : at 
present they have sixteen chapels in villages round 
Mangungu, their principal station on the Ho- 
kianga.- At that place, Mr. Wilkinson, a chaplain 
in Xew South Wales, saw an attentive and decorous 
congregation of five hundred assembled for wor- 
ship. Thence he proceeded to visit other stations, 
and found the numbers averaged from one hundred 
to one hundred and sixty. 3 Of these catechumens 



1 Evict 224, 225. 
3 Ibid. 96. 



; Ibid. 



138 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



seven hundred have been baptized and received 
the Lord's Supper. 1 And the number is rapidly 
increasing, as may be seen from the following 
interesting letter from Mr. Turner, the same mis- 
sionary who, ten years ago, was driven from 
Wangaroa. 

" Mangungu, 30th August, 1837. 
" Last Lord's-day, 27th of August, was the most 
encouraging day I have spent in New Zealand. 
It was a day on which we had previously fixed for 
baptizing a considerable number of adults, many 
of whom had long been candidates for that sacred 
ordinance. The weather being favourable on 
Friday and Saturday, nearly the whole of our 
people from the out-stations arrived at Mangungu. 
The number of adults could not have been less 
than seven hundred. On Friday evening we had a 
very solemn and interesting meeting ; all the can- 
didates who had arrived were catechised, and an 
exhortation was addressed to them. On Saturday 
evening the chapel was very full, when the can- 
didates and people in general were addressed rela- 
tive to the approaching solemnity. Afterwards, 
twenty-one couples were married. On Sunday the 
native prayer-meeting at seven a. m. was attended 
by full three hundred persons, when several natives 
prayed in a devout and most appropriate manner. 
At nine we met the candidates, when I again cate- 



1 Evid. 123, 240. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS, 



139 



chised and addressed them, solemnly charging 
any of them who might be living in secret sin, or 
who were not sincere before God, that they did 
not on any account come to be baptized, although 
they had been approved by us. All appeared 
deeply and seriously impressed. A little before 
eleven the candidates were first admitted into the 
chapel, and so arranged that there might not be 
any confusion in the congregation at the time of 
administering the sacrament of baptism. The bell 
was then rung, and the chapel soon crowded to 
excess, very many not being able to find admit- 
tance ; but the day was very favourable for their sit- 
ting on the outside. The first hymn was delightfully 
sung ; every one appeared to join .... I then read 
(in native) the third chapter of Matthew, fixing on 
the eleventh verse as my text, and seldom have l 
felt greater freedom of speech in the native tongue. 
I particularly dwelt on the importance and abso- 
lute necessity of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, 
in order to their true discipleship here, and their 
admission into the kingdom of heaven hereafter. 
Almost all present appeared rivetted to their seats ; 
and a gracious solemnity prevailed. There was 
considerable feeling manifested, especially at the 
close of the sermon, when the candidates were 
requested to rise, and several of the principal chiefs 
addressed by name, and called to behold their 
people, their children, about to be dedicated to 
' Ihowa te Atua nui, te Kingi o te Rangi te Kingi 
o te Ao,' ' Jehovah the great God ; the King of 



140 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS 



Heaven and the King of Earth.' The questions 
having been proposed to the candidates, there were 
formally admitted into the Christian Church one 
hundred and twenty individuals, by their being 
baptized in the name of the sacred Triune Jehovah. 
They were of all ages, from the youth of twelve 
years old to the man 6 venerable with hoary hairs.' 
They were also in every grade of Xew Zealand 
society, from the home-born slave or captive taken 
in war, to the chiefs of first rank. Many more 
would have been baptized, but we have been exceed- 
ingly urgent that our native teachers should not on 
any account propose to us any one candidate whose 
daily walk and conduct did not give them satisfac- 
tory proof of his sincerity ; and nothing connected 
with this general baptism has given us greater 
pleasure than the scrupulous care manifested bv 
the native teachers who assist us in the general 
oversight of the people, that no improper person 
should be baptized. In consequence of this vigi- 
lance, many yet remain as candidates Mr. 

"\Toon preached to a crowded audience of natives 
in the evening, urging them from Paul's words, to 
present their bodies and souls a living sacrifice to 
God ; after which we baptized twenty-six children, 
and married four couples. We concluded this 
happy though laborious day in partaking of the 
Lord's Supper." 1 

Several of these converts are now become 



1 Evid, 233, 234. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 141 



teachers. 1 In a sequestered and lovely spot in 
Horuru Valley, a young native resides as the Chris- 
tian teacher to a small tribe. A few miles further 
in the valley, another village under a baptized 
chief is regularly visited by native teachers from 
Mangungu, and several are earnestly seeking to 
be saved. And at Kohu Maru, another village 
in the same valley, Mr. Turner lately found forty 
who seemed to be anxious about their salvation, 
through the same instrumentality. 2 

In the south also there is a great desire to receive 
missionaries. In some distant places, the natives 
have built chapels, and have sent deputations to 
Mangungu asking for teachers. 3 About six thou- 
sand natives are now within their reach near the 
Hokianga, 4 and Mr. Turner reports to the Society 
at home, that if they had more missionaries, they 
would soon have a thousand natives under their 
care where they now have a hundred. 5 

Thirdly. Tahiti. — The history of the mission to 
Tahiti and other South Sea Islands bears a close 
resemblance to that of the New Zealand missions. 
Trials almost as great, and discouragements as 

1 Evidence, 241. 

2 Wesleyan Missionary Report for 1837-8, 33— 35. 

3 lb. 30. 4 Evidence, 180. 

5 Evidence, 240. All these numbers respecting the state of the 
missions have been greatly enlarged since the above account was 
written, two years since, and at present (Nov. 1841) many thou- 
sands of the natives of the northern island are under the Christian 
instruction of the missionaries of the two Societies. 



142 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS, 



numerous, have led to still more ample success, 
Nothing could be more unpromising than the com- 
mencement. Ignorant and immoral, the people 
cared nothing for the spiritual blessings offered in 
the Gospel, and dreaded the present vengeance of 
their own gods vastly more than the punishment 
which the missionaries assured them awaited sin- 
ners in the world to come. Greedy of gain, they 
looked upon their teachers only as those from 
whom they might derive something valuable, either 
by gift or plunder, and when they found that no- 
thing more was to be obtained they upbraided 
them as useless intruders. The Gospel itself they 
scorned. When the missionary was preaching 
some would talk all the while about his dress or 
his features ; others would excite the mirth of the 
rest by ludicrous gestures or low wit ; some brought 
dogs or cocks to make them fight ; and occasionally 
areois or strolling players would begin their pan- 
tomime close to him, when all his hearers would 
leave him to witness the more congenial exhibition 
of folly and of vice. 1 

After they had heard the Gospel preached for 
seven years, they only seemed more than ever 
disposed to ridicule it. When epidemic diseases 
were making fearful ravages, they charged the 
missionaries with being the authors of their misery, 
by having prayed against them to their God ; and 
if they preached, the deformed and diseased were 

1 Ellis' Polynesian Researches, i. 118. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



143 



brought out to show the destructive efficacy of their 
prayers. 1 Occasionally indifference was changed 
into anger. Once because the missionaries were 
supposed to have hindered an English captain from 
selling a supply of muskets and powder, two of 
them were seized near the margin of a river, 
dragged through the water, and threatened with 
death. At length, in 1808, a civil war drove them 
all from the island, with the exception of four, 
and these were soon after obliged to follow. The 
mission-houses being ransacked and burnt, every 
implement of iron was converted into a weapon 
of war; valuable books were turned into cart- 
ridge paper; and the printing types were melted 
into musket balls. 2 ]\ T o native had been convert 
ed; no soul had been saved. Human sacrifices 
were still offered ; infants were still murdered ; tor- 
rents of blood still flowed in their interminable 
wars ; and the arduous and faithful efforts of eleven 
years, seemed to have been as completely wasted as 
tillage on the naked rock. 

At length the courage of the Society wavered; 
and it was debated in committee whether they 
should not abandon the enterprize as hopeless. But 
the hope of some at least of the missionaries failed 
not. Driven from Tahiti, Mr. Nott continued to 
labour in Eimeo. Thither the King Pomare had 
likewise been driven. His zeal for idolatry, with 

1 Ellis, i. 127, 132. 

2 lb. i. 86, 137, 138, 186; Williams' Missionary Enterprizes 
to the South Sea Islands, 13, 



144 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



all his bloody offerings to Oro, had issued in defeat; 
and the insurgents were masters of the fairest part 
of his dominions. Disgusted therefore with ido- 
latry he became an anxious inquirer after truth ; 
and earnestly besought the missionaries to return 
from New South Wales, whither they had retired. 
Upon their return he welcomed them with affec- 
tion, and not long after, publicly professed his belief 
in God. He now began openly to pour contempt 
upon idols, and to proclaim the Gospel to his 
subjects; numbers of whom were much influenced 
by his example. After some time he was invited 
to return to Tahiti; and on the loth of June, 1813, 
was joined by the missionaries Scott and Hay- 
ward. 

Sixteen years had passed since the commencement 
of the mission ; and not one heathen had appeared 
to be savingly converted to God ; but the time of 
mercy was come. 1 Retiring for prayer on the follow- 
ing morning among the bushes near the house where 
he lodged, Mr. Scott overheard a native in secret 
prayer to God. It was the first Tahitian prayer that 
he had ever heard. This person was one of a little 
band who in the absence of their teachers had re- 
nounced idols, and regularly assembled to worship 
God. Encouraged by hearing these facts, Messrs. 
Scott and Hayward preached through the island and 
then returned to Eimeo. There also a great work 
of grace now began. July 25, 1813, a chapel was 



1 Ellis, i. 142, 186, 187, 191, 197, 198 ; Williams, 13. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



145 



opened ; fifty persons renounced idolatry, and were 
joined by Patii, the priest of the district, who, 
before assembled multitudes, consigned his idols 
to the flames. This emboldened many in both 
islands to do the same. 1 In 1814, Pomare returned 
to Eimeo with many professed Christians from 
Tahiti, the congregation increased, and at the close 
of 1814 three hundred regularly attended the wor- 
ship, and two hundred were professed Christians. 
About this time the king travelled through the 
island, every where recommending the people to 
embrace Christianity, and persuaded numbers to 
burn their idols. 2 Meanwhile the progress of the 
Gospel in Tahiti stirred up a furious persecution. 
Some were stripped of their property, some ba- 
nished from their homes for the crime of being- 
Christians; and one or two were even sacrificed 
to Oro. In May, 1815, the Queen, who had em- 
braced Christianity, made a visit to that island, 
where she found that a few were worshipping God, 
amidst opposition and contempt. Some chiefs 
threatening her Christian attendants with the ven- 
geance of the gods, one of them, Farefau, publicly 
seized the red feathers supposed to represent the 
gods, and cast them into the flames. 3 

The numbers of the converts increasing, the ido- 
laters were so exasperated, that they determined 
to murder every Christian on the island: but 

1 Ellis, i. 198, 199, 201, 202, 205, 206, 212, 214. 

2 lb. i, 216, 220, 243, 244. 

3 lb. i. 221, 233, 235, 237, 238. 

H 



146 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



the plot was discovered in time ; and the Christians 
escaped in their canoes to Eirueo. Upon this the 
pagan chiefs, with a view to accomplish their object, 
invited the refugees to return. These fell into the 
snare ; and it nearly proved their destruction : for 
on the 12th of November, 1815, being Sunday, 
while they were assembled for worship, they sud- 
denly learned that a large body of their enemies 
were rapidly advancing upon them. Happily they 
also had their arms ; and when the two armies met, 
though they were greatly outnumbered by the 
heathen, they won the battle. 1 Instead however 
of slaughtering the fugitives, or of marching to 
their villages to murder (as was the general custom) 
their women and children, the king employed the 
victors in destroying the principal maraes and idols: 
and then sent to the insurgents an offer of for- 
giveness. Astonished at a clemency to which nei- 
ther the history of their wars, nor his own previous 
practice, could afford any parallel, they at length 
unanimously determined to embrace a religion 
which had borne such fruits. Forthwith their idols 
were destroyed, the institution of the areois was 
abolished," few, if any, continued to profess idola- 
try, 3 and within a year after that victory, sixty-six 
chapels were built in different places. Kative 
teachers now began to preach every where, 4 and 
almost all the inhabitants of the island attended 



1 Ellis, i. 240, 246, 247, &c. 
3 lb. i. 247—260. 



2 lb. i. 329. 
4 lb. ii. 109. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



147 



public worship. 1 After this Pomare, anxious to 
show his Christian zeal, erected for divine worship 
the most magnificent building which their island 
had ever contained. It was 712 feet long, and 54 
broad, it had 133 windows, and 29 doors. Massive 
pillars supported the roof. It could hold about 
seven thousand persons. And as one voice could 
not be heard throughout the building, there were 
three congregations gathered round three pulpits, 
from which three missionaries at once addressed the 
assembled multitudes. 2 

In July, 1819, the king was baptized, and soon 
afterwards many others. 3 

The success of the Gospel at Tahiti and Eimeo, 
the progress of civilization, the cessation of war, 
the increase of physical comforts, the introduction 
of good laws, and the innumerable blessings which 
followed that success, prepared other islands to 
renounce their idols. Native teachers too began 
to preach with great effect, the most powerful 
chiefs became evangelists, and island after island 
embraced the truth. Mahine, the King of Hua- 
hine, with his chiefs, speedily abolished idolatry 
throughout his territory; and missionaries were 
invited to settle there. They landed in June, 1818; 
in September, 1819, some converts were baptized; 
in 1820, sixteen were admitted to the Lord's table, 
and the church in that island had in 1827 nearly 
five hundred communicants. 4 

1 Ellis, i. 263. 2 Ih i{ ^02— 104. 

3 lb. ii. 254, 255. « lb. i. 412; ii. 258, 339. 

H 2 



148 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



Tamatoa, King of Raiatea, shortly after the 
battle which decided the fate of idolatry in Tahiti, 
declared himself a believer in Jesus Christ, and 
with many of his chiefs renounced idolatry. The 
idolaters took up arms, and were defeated, 1 in 1818. 
Upon this the missionaries, Williams and Threl- 
keld, settled there. In May, 1820, a code of laws 
was established, and at the same time a Christian 
church was formed, which in September, 1836, 
had one hundred and twenty-eight communi- 
cants. 2 

The two small islands of Tahaa and Borabora 
almost immmediately followed the example of 
Raiatea, by destroying their idols ; and Christian 
churches were formed there also, in one of which 
there were, in 1836, thirty-eight communicants, 
and in the other sixty-three. 3 

In 1821, some inhabitants of Rurutu, an island 
about 350 miles distant, visited Raiatea ; there they 
stayed three months, and then were sent home with 
two native teachers: in one month more a boat 
brought to the missionaries of Raiatea their dis- 
carded idols, and fifteen months after Bennet 
and Tyerman found a chapel built 80 feet by 36, 
in which the banisters of the pulpit stairs were 
the spears no longer needed for war: and during 

« Ellis, i. 267. 

2 lb. i. 433, 434; ii. 337, 388. Forty-fourth London Mis- 
sionary Report. 

3 lb. i. 267, 268; ii. 337. Forty-fourth London Missionary 
Report. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



149 



their stay all the inhabitants of the island assembled 
for public worship. 1 

The Society and Georgian Islands having now 
been evangelized, the Gospel was next carried to 
the Hervey Islands, lying about 500 miles to the 
west of Tahiti. These are, Hervey Island, Aitu- 
taki, Atiu, Manke, Mitiaro, Mangaia, and Rora- 
tonga. Hervey Island has only five inhabitants. 
At Aitutaki, which has a population of about two 
thousand, two native teachers were placed in the 
latter end of 1821. When Mr. Williams visited 
it in 1823, the maraes were burnt, the whole popu- 
lation professed Christianity, a chapel was built 
180 feet by 30 ; nearly all the inhabitants at- 
tended worship, and family prayer was general. 
From Aitutaki, Mr. Williams, with some con- 
verted chiefs and some dethroned idols in the 
vessel, visited Atiu. The accounts of Aitutaki, 
the conversation of the chiefs, the sight of the 
idols, and the preaching of Mr. Williams, de- 
termined Romatane, the principal chief, at once 
to destroy his idols, 2 The next visiters to Atiu 
were Messrs. Bennet and Tyerman, June 19, 
1824, and the first intelligence which they received 
on landing was that the whole population had 
renounced their idols, and that a large chapel was 
built. 3 Eomatane, being also chief of Manke and 

1 Voyages of Messrs. Tyerman and Bennet, i. 494—498; 
Williams, 39, 42—44. 

2 Williams, 20, 39, 52, 59—61, 84—37. 

3 Voyages, &c ii. 73, 119. 



150 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

Mitiaro, accompanied Mr. Williams thither ; and 
exhorted them without hesitation or delay to burn 
their idols, and receive Christian teachers. In 
both islands he was obeyed, 1 and when H. M. S. the 
Blonde, under the command of Lord Byron, visited 
Manke, August 8, 1825, the officers found a church 
built capable of containing two hundred persons. 
Two native teachers were living among them, and 
their superstitions were gone. They were kind and 
hospitable, their persons cleanly, and their man- 
ners decorous. 2 

The people of Mangaia at first so ill treated the 
native teachers who landed among them, that they 
were compelled to depart from the island ; but on 
the 15th of June, 1824, Davida and Tiere, two 
others from Tahaa, were well received ; 3 and 
fifteen months after, when Mr. Bourne visited 
them, he found among a population of about two 
thousand, one hundred and twenty converts. 4 The 
persecution of the Christians led at length to a 
war of religion, in which the heathen were defeated, 
and in 1831 Mr. Williams opened a large chapel 
there, in which he preached to sixteen hundred 
persons, and by degrees nearly the whole body of 
idolaters have embraced Christianity. 5 

1 Williams, 87—90. 

2 Voyage of the Blonde, 206—212. 

3 Williams, 79—81 ; Voyages of Messrs. Bennet andTyerman, 
ii. 116. 

4 Williams, 19; Voyages, &c. ii. 118. 

5 Williams, 244, 249—262. 



PEACTIC ABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



151 



In Rarotonga, with a population of six thousand, 
the progress was much more rapid. It was only 
discovered in 1823. One native teacher was then 
left there with six Christian natives of the island, 
brought home from other islands, and these were 
afterwards joined by another teacher. 1 The bles- 
sing on their labours was so great, that when 
Messrs. Bennet and Tyerman visited it, about 
one year afterwards, the whole population had 
renounced idolatry, and were building a church, 
six hundred feet in length, and that before a 
European had ever set his foot upon the island. 2 
Since that period the South Sea missions have 
continued to extend. 

In 1830, Mr. Williams visited Savaii, the largest 
of the Xavigators' group, and placed there eight 
native teachers. And in October, 1832, he found 
that a large chapel was built ; that the Gospel had 
been introduced into thirty villages ; 3 and that it had 
excited much attention in other islands too. In the 
three islands of that group there are now eight Euro- 
pean missionaries. In Savaii ten chiefs and about 
three thousand of the people have embraced Chris- 
tianity, and a small church of Christ has been ga- 
thered from the world. In Upolo and Manino, 
forty chiefs, with eight thousand other persons, have 
embraced Christianity; and many have been bap- 
tized. And in Tutuela about six thousand more 

1 Williams, 19, 99, 103. 

2 Voyages, &c. ii. 121 ; Williams, 103, 113. 

3 Williams, 327, 335, 424. 



152 PRACTICABILITY OP MISSIONS. 

placed themselves under Christian instruction. 1 
Other ,slands have still to be visited. Whole 
groups mdeed remain to be evangelized- but 
whereas less than twenty-five years since, there 
was not one convert in Tahiti; now there is not 
one island of importance, within two thousand miles 
of Tahiti, to which the Gospel has not been 
preached; numbers have renounced idolatry; and 
since 1815, one island on an average every year has 
been added to the number of those which in whole 
or in part have publicly embraced Christianity.* 

The experience of these missions has established 
several important points. It has shown, first, that 
the Gospel may be effectually preached to the bar- 
barous nations, without any previous attempts to 
civilize them. It was the Gospel which brought 
civilization to the South Sea Islands, not civiliza- 
tion which brought the Gospel. The missionary 
did not wait till their minds had been opened by 
some civilizing process; but preached Christ to 
them when in the lowest barbarism. He instructed 
them m useful arts, but it was as the adjunct of 
the Gospel, not as preceding it. The Greenlanders 
were not civilized when the missionaries first visited 
them; nor were the Tahitians ; nor were the 
New Zealanders. And whatever has been done 
since for the two latter nations apart from Chris- 
tian^, has tended merely to corrupt them. Dis- 

| Forty-fourth London Missionary Report, 19-22. 
3 See Forty-fourth London Missionary Report. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 153 

solute sailors and runaway convicts have taught 
them to drink and to blaspheme ; European 
traders have brought them guns and ammunition ; 
but from neither the one nor the other have they 
learnt one art of peace, or received one institution 
of civilized communities. The missionaries have 
no doubt promoted their civilization greatly : it 
was their obvious policy, while manifesting their 
kindness in a way which the natives could not 
appreciate, to show it in a way which they could. 
It was their duty to increase their comforts and 
promote their prosperity, while they laboured for 
their salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ, though he 
came to save the lost, came also to feed the hungry 
and heal the sick. After his example therefore 
the missionaries have not neglected to instruct the 
heathen in the arts of life. They have taught them 
to sow and plant ; to build and work iron ; to make 
bricks, mortar, and ropes ; to cultivate useful 
plants ; and to rear useful animals. Under their 
care they are better clothed and fed than they 
were ; injustice and cruelty have been restrained ; 
better laws have been established ; and all this, 
following the preaching of the Gospel, has added 
to its success. The news of its beneficial effects 
have prepared other heathen tribes to welcome 
it. But it was the Gospel which civilized, not 
civilization which evangelized. A contrary course 
was only calculated to throw hindrances in the way 
of the Gospel. Now they see in their Christian 
teachers, men who have done more than all besides 

h 3 



154 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



to increase their present comforts ; but bad those 
comforts been afforded without the Gospel, (the 
practicability of which has never yet been proved,) 
then they would have been deprived of one power- 
ful motive to listen to the Gospel. The Gospel 
ought therefore to be preached at once, wherever 
the missionary can get access ; but at the same 
time, in imitation of our Lord, who fed the hungry 
and who healed the sick, he should promote the 
temporal welfare of the heathen to the utmost. 
And wherever the Gospel is thus preached with 
practical benevolence and real feeling, there, as in 
Greenland, Tahiti, and New Zealand, in the Fiji 
and Sandwich Islands, it will not be without its 
fruits. 

Secondly, no degree of debasement or depravity 
is able to hinder its influence. What nation of 
savages can be more stupid than the Greenlander, 
more sensual than the Tahitian, or more ferocious 
than the New Zealander? And since these have 
been converted, then there is no nation too dull 
to be instructed, too ferocious to be subdued, or too 
vicious to be reclaimed. Meant for the whole 
world, the Gospel is suited to the whole world ; and 
if it can ennoble the most dignified, and surpass the 
faculties of the most intelligent, it can also reach 
and save the most degraded and the most mi- 
serable. 

Thirdly, in the attempt to introduce the Gospel 
into any barbarous country, violence or apathy on 
the part of the heathen, though the one may sus- 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 155 



pend missionary effort, and the other for a long- 
while hinder its success, cannot eventually prevent 
its triumphs. Opposition may at length be changed 
into friendship, and apathy grow into eager in- 
terest. What has happened in Tahiti and New 
Zealand will happen again, where similar means 
are employed in similar circumstances. 

Fourthly, we may observe, that each previous 
degree of success prepares for the more rapid 
diffusion of the Gospel. Patience in unrequited 
toil, and benevolence, notwithstanding unmerited 
persecution, can win the confidence even of a 
savage. His confidence won, his ear is open to 
instruction, and thus some few among the heathen 
are converted to God. But these native converts 
rouse the attention of multitudes, so that the work 
of civilization and the work of conversion advance 
together. Then the moral transformation of the 
converts, and their increased temporal comforts, 
awaken curiosity among distant tribes, and con- 
vince the most bigotted among the heathen, both 
that idols are impotent to harm, and that Chris- 
tianity is powerful to bless. Hence then all the 
suspicions and fears of the natives, which impeded 
the missionaries at first, are precluded, and whole 
tribes are ready at once to consign their idols to 
merited contempt. Then native teachers con- 
tinually multiplying, add a hundred fold to the 
efficiency of the missionary corps; and while the 
heathen are more prepared to listen, the mission- 
aries are better able to instruct. 

h 4 



156 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



Fifthly, the triumphs of the Gospel among the 
barbarous nations of the earth will therefore, in 
all probability, (if only proper means be employed,) 
advance more rapidly in future than they have done. 
The next narrative of Mr. Williams, when his mis- 
sionary ship shall have left a hundred native mis- 
sionaries at a hundred islands of the South Pacific, 
hitherto unvisited, will probably announce more 
extensive triumphs than his last did. 1 And as al- 
ready the larger part of the Northern Island of 
New Zealand, is ready to hear the Gospel, if suit- 
able means be used in a right spirit, there is greater 
reason to hope that both islands will soon have em- 
braced the Gospel. 

Lastly, great as has been the success in New 
Zealand, Tahiti, and other islands, there are other 
efforts which, according to their magnitude and 
duration, have been equally blessed. Under the 
zealous instruction of American missionaries, the 
Sandwich Islanders, amounting to a hundred and 
fifty thousand souls, have embraced Christianity. 2 

The progress of the Gospel, in several other 
groups, is of almost unexampled rapidity. In 
Tonga, a few years since wholly heathen, contain- 
ing ten thousand inhabitants, there are now 80 
local preachers, and 1050 members of the Metho- 

1 How little did the writer anticipate, when these pages were 
written, that almost the next communication made to Europe, 
respecting that enterprising, courageous, sensible, and devoted 
missionary, would contain the news of his death. 

2 Williams' and Stewart's Visit to the South Seas. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 157 

dist Society. 1 In sixteen islands of the Haabai 
(Hapai) group, there are 90 local preachers and 
3323 members. In the Vavou (Vavau) group, 
there are 3473 members and 200 local preachers, 
the whole population of each group professing 
Christianity. 2 In the West India Islands, the ne- 
groes in general are most grateful for the Christian 
instruction which they receive from missionaries, 
and many thousands have become devout members 
of Christian churches. 

Both Methodist, Moravian, and Congregational 
missionaries, have brought numbers of the Hot- 
tentots and Caffres to the knowledge of the Gospel 
within the colony of the Cape, and beyond its 
frontiers the Gospel is rapidly spreading, through 
the devoted labours of French Protestants, among 
the Batlapi, Bassoutos, and other tribes. The 
earliest of their stations was founded in 1830, and 
their progress is thus detailed in their last report. 
" Dans sept stations, la Societe des Missions evan- 
geliques de Paris, entretient sept missionaires, cinq 
aides-mission aires, neuf femmes missionaires, total, 
vingt-un ouvriers, et en y comprenant leurs enfants, 
trente personnes appartenant a la mission, et soute- 
nues par elle. Dans le courant de l'annee derniere, 
seize indigenes convertis ont ete baptises dans les 
diverses stations, et trente-sept catechumens sommes 
recus comme candidats au bapteme. En ajoutant a 

1 Methodist Repository, 39. 

2 Methodist Repository, 42, 45. 



158 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



ce nombre vingt-neuf natifs, recus membres de 
FEglise anterieurement a cette epoque, nous trou- 
vons que, depuis l'origine de la mission Francaise 
au sud de FAfrique, quatre-vingt-deux pai'ens se sont 
convertis, et ont embrasse l'Evangile. En 1836, 
nous n'avions guere que la moitie de ce chiffre. 
Les ecoles des sept stations, sont frequentees par 
quatre cent cinquante enfants environ, nombre 
double de celui des annees precedentes ; et l'in- 
fluence de la mission s'etend sur une population de 
plus de vingt mille ames, appartenant a dix tribus 
differentes. La plus ancienne des stations, date 
de 1830; trois ont ete fondees en 1833; une qua- 
trieme en 1835; les deux autres n'existent que 
depuis l'annee derniere, et marquent l'extension 
graduelle de vos missionaires." 1 In short, after 
the experience of so many years, and in so many 
places, we have evidence enough to prove that there 
is no country so barbarous or so unsettled, so dis- 
solute in manners, or so devoted to war, that mis- 
sionaries cannot obtain a footing there. Central 
Africa may now exclude them, but they are hang- 
ing on its frontiers, and as surely as they have 
spread and are spreading among the islands of the 
South Pacific, so surely will they extend from the 
tribes which border on the colony of the Cape 
to those which surround Lake Tchad, and from 
thence to the Gallas, on the confines of Abyssinia. 

1 Fourteenth Report of the Paris Missionary Society for 1838, 
36, 37. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 159 

No difficulties can meet the Christian teacher in 
the Fiji Islands, in Borneo or New Holland, which 
have not been surmounted in New Zealand; and 
if at present the missionaries are driven away from 
Madagascar and from the Zoolu country, the ex- 
perience of the South Sea missions warrants us to 
expect that they will ere long be affectionately wel- 
comed back again. And in general we are entitled 
to believe that the same courage, patience, good 
sense, and zealous industry, which, sustained by 
faith and blessed through prayer, has thrown open 
the South Sea Islands to missionary efforts, will 
no less, wherever the experiment is made, throw 
open to them every other barbarous land. The 
Church of Christ may, if it have zeal enough, bring 
all the savage nations of the earth to hear the 
Gospel. 

SECTION" SECOND. — PRACTICABILITY OF CHRISTIAN 
MISSIONS IN THE MORE CIVILIZED HEATHEN LANDS. 

Civilization is not always thought friendly to 
religion. If education enables those who are un- 
prejudiced to perceive the evidence for the truth, 
it also enables the prejudiced more ingeniously 
and more stiffly to maintain error. The Roman 
Catholic is therefore thought more obstinate in 
error than the Mahommedan, and the Mahom- 
medan than the Hindoo. As therefore the Hindoo 
and the Chinese, in their turns, are more culti- 
vated than the South African and the South Sea 



160 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



Islander, may they not also be, on that account, 
more hardened against the Gospel, so that the 
success of missionaries among barbarous nations 
may be no pledge of its success among those which 
are more instructed ? 

In opposition to these opinions it is found, where 
there are not political hindrances, or those arising 
from priestly influence, Roman Catholics are more 
open to conviction than Mahommedans, and Ma- 
hommedans than Hindoos. The great obstacle in 
the way of preaching the Gospel to Roman Ca- 
tholics and Mahommedans comes from the govern- 
ments, or from the priests, not the people. Know- 
ledge too is, in both cases, indisputably advan- 
tageous. It is the ignorant of all sects who are the 
most bigotted : while bigotry and knowledge can 
hardly associate. The educated Roman Catholic 
is much more accessible than the ignorant, because 
less under the influence of the clergy, more capable 
of reasoning, and more willing to hear. Instructed 
Mahommedans, for similar reasons, are becoming in 
numbers sceptical to their own creed, and willing 
to converse candidly with Christian travellers. In- 
creasing intelligence is now doing the same thing 
for the Hindoos and the Chinese, and no less than 
the islands of the South Pacific and the tribes of 
South Africa, are millions accessible to Christian 
effort. No obstacle need be apprehended from the 
people because they are becoming sceptical to their 
own creeds ; and none can come from their govern- 
ments, for the government of the one is unwilling 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



161 



to oppose Christian effort, and the other is un- 
able. 

I shall enter into the more detailed proof of 
these positions, because of the immense impor- 
tance of these two missions. British India has a 
population of above ninety millions, and Mr. 
Martin reckons the allied states to contain nearly 
a hundred millions more. 1 

The amount of the Chinese population is larger 
still. Grosier, on the authority of Amiot, who 
quoted the Ye-tung*-chy, or statistical account of 
the whole empire, made the population in 1743 
amount to a hundred and ninety-eight millions. 2 
A proclamation of the emperor Keen-loong, about 
1793, urged upon the empire the necessity of 
economy and industry, because it was found by the 
recent census that the population had risen to 
307,467,200. 3 In the same year 1793, " Chow-ta- 
Zhin, a man of business and precision, cautious in 
advancing facts, and proceeding generally upon 
official documents, delivered, at the request of the 
ambassador, a statement to him, taken from one of 
the public offices in the capital," which made the 
population amount to 333,000,000 ; 4 and lastly, 
in 1825, the Ta-tsing, published by authority, stated 

1 Martin's History of the Colonies, i. 124. 

2 Davis, ii. 408. 

3 lb. ii. 410. 

4 Staunton's Embassy to China, ii. 546. Appendix, 615. 



162 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



the population to be 352,866,012. 1 The number 
of individuals is regularly taken in each division 
of a district by a tithing-man, or every tenth master 
of a family. These returns are collected by officers 
resident so near as to be capable of correcting any 
gross mistake ; and all the returns are lodged in the 
great register at Pekin." 2 The variation of these 
statements from each other show that great blun- 
ders are made ; but as they are made for the use 
of the government, and as the population is now 
felt to be inconveniently great, tempting the poor 
to infanticide, commerce, and emigration, the first 
of which is contrary to nature, and the two last 
against the law, it is not probable that it should 
be intentionally exaggerated, nor, supposing these 
last accounts to be correct, is the number at all 
incredible. Almost the whole surface of the coun- 
try is dedicated to the production of food for man. 
While in England there are about one million of 
draught horses, consuming food which would sus- 
tain eight millions of inhabitants ; in China there 
are scarcely any beasts of burden, and meat being 
very little used, there are few cattle and no meadow 
land. Parks and pleasure grounds are seldom 
seen. The roads are few and narrow : there are 
no commons, no wastes, and no fallows. The soil 
in the south generally yields two crops in the year. 
The people eat animals and vegetables not used in 



1 Martin, i. 447. 



2 Staunton, ii. 546. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



163 



other countries, such as dogs, cats, rats, and snakes. 
In the southern provinces, one acre of rice land 
will yield, in two crops, three thousand six hundred 
pounds of rice, affording two pounds per day to five 
persons throughout the year. There is much spade 
husbandry, 1 and notwithstanding the utmost eco- 
nomy, industry, and agricultural skill, there is a 
wide spread pauperism ; many die of actual want, 
and thousands are compelled, against law and 
prejudice, to settle in foreign lands. Under these 
circumstances it is not at all incredible that the 
population should be a little more dense than in 
England, and a little less so than in Ireland or 
Belgium. In England the population is 257 to 
the square mile, in Ireland 292, in Belgium 320, 
and in China, 289, there being 1,225,823 square 
miles. 2 On the whole it is certain, whatever in- 
accuracies may have crept into these official re- 
turns, that the population of China is immense, 
and that India and China together, contain nearly 
half the population of the world. Into both 
these countries, for which enlightened Christian 
zeal has done as yet so little, it is practicable 
to introduce the Gospel, as I shall proceed to 
show. 

I. It is practicable to introduce the Gospel into 
China. 

Although it is a maxim of the sacred edict that 

1 Staunton, ii. 544—546. Aledhurst, 26—39. 

2 Martin, i. 447. 



164 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS, 



the people '"'should degrade strange religions;" 1 
and among these, the religion of the sect of Teen 
Cku, (the Lord of Heaven,) that is, Christianity, 
is pronounced to be unsound and corrupt ; ' : vet 
many things show that it is not impossible for 
Christians to obtain toleration in the empire. 

1 . Since the days of Confucius the mystics of 
the Taon sect have remained unmolested. 

2. A. D. 65, the priests and idols of Buddhism 
were introduced from India, at the invitation of the 
reigning sovereign, Ming-ty, since which time thev 
have continued to propagate their doctrines, and 
have made the mass of the poorer classes converts 
to their system. 3 

3. There is reason to think that Christianity 
made great progress in the Chinese empire towards 
the close of the seventh century. Alvarez Semedo, 
a Portuguese missionary in the seventeenth cen- 
tury, wrote an account of China in Italian, from 
which language it was translated into English, 
and printed in 1655. The following is his account 
of an ancient monument, which, with some other 
circumstances mentioned by him, o- es far to prove 
this fact : 

" In the year 1625, as they were digging the 
foundation to erect a certain building near to the 
City of Siganfu, the capital city of the province 
of Xemsi, the workmen lighted upon a table of 



1 Sacred Edict. Maxim vii. 126. 
i Davis, ii. 7S— 80. 



- Ib. 150. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



165 



stone above nine palmes long, and more than four 
in breadth, and above one palme in thickness. 
There was a wonderful concourse of people to see 
this stone, partly for the antiquity thereof, and 
partly for the novelty of the strange characters, 
which were to be seen thereon : and as the know- 
ledge of our religion is at this day very much spread 
abroad in China, a Gentile, who was a great friend 
unto a grave Christian Mandarine, named Leo, 
being present there, presently understood the mys- 
tery of that writing ; and believing, it would be 
very acceptable to his friend, sent him a copy 
thereof; although he was distant above a month 
and a half's voyage, the Mandarine dwelling in the 
citv of Hamcheu, whither our fathers had retired 
themselves, by reason of the former persecution, 
whereof we shall speak in its proper place. This 
copy was received with a spiritual jubilee, and 
manv exterior demonstrations of joy, as an irre- 
fragable testimony of the ancient Christianity in 
China. Three years after, in the year 1628, some 
of our fathers went into that province in the com- 
pany of a Christian Mandarine, who had occasion 
to go thither. They founded a church and house 
in the capital city thereof for the service of our 
good God, that he who was pleased to discover so 
precious a memorial of the possession taken in that 
countrv by his divine law, would also facilitate 
the restitution thereof in the same place. It was 
my good fortune to be one of the first, and I 
esteemed it to be a happy abode, in that I had 



166 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



the opportunity to see the stone, and being arrived, 
I took no thought for any thing else. I saw it 
and read, and went often to read, behold, and con- 
sider it at leisure." It was covered with an in- 
scription engraved in Chinese letters, and on its 
sides were some Syriac words. It declares that 
there is one Triune Jehovah, mentions the fall of 
man, the incarnation of Christ, the circumstances 
of his birth and childhood, omitting all mention of 
his death; it declares his ascension; notices the 
institution of baptism, and then proceeds:—" When 
a king named Tai Zum ben Hoam did govern, 
there came from Judea a man of high virtue, by 
name Olopuen, who being guided by the clouds, 
brought the true doctrine. And in the year Chin 
Quom Kienfu he arrived at the Court. The kino- 
commanded the Colao Tarn Kizulin, that he should 
go and meet him as far as the west, and that he 
should treat him as his guest with all manner of 
kindness. He caused this doctrine to be translated 
in his palace, and seeing the law to be true, he 
powerfully commanded it should be divulged 
through the kingdom. He commanded the Man- 
darines of this Court of Nimfan, that they should 
build there a great church, with twenty-one niinis- 

ters Tne great emperor Cao Zum, the son of 

Tai Zum, continued with good decorum the inten- 
tion of his grandfather, enlarging and adorning the 
works of his father. For he commanded, that in 
all his provinces, churches should be built, and 
honours conferred on Olopuen, bestowing upon 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 167 

him the title of Bishop of the great law ; by which 
law he governed the kingdom of China in great 
peace, and the churches filled the whole country 
with the prosperity of preaching." The benefac- 
tions of several other emperors are then men- 
tioned, and the inscription concludes. " In the 
empire of great Tarn, the second year of Kien 
Chum, the seventh day of the month of Autumne, 
was this stone erected, Nin Chu being bishop, and 
governing the church of China. The Mandarine, 
called Lin Sicuyen, entitled Chaoylam, (in which 
office before him was Tai Cheu Su Sic Kan Keun,) 
graved this stone with his own hand." 1 

Du Halde, who gives a very unfaithful para- 
phrase of Semedo's version, declares that in his 
day the stone was still preserved in the same place. 
If this tablet still exist, or then existed, there can 
be little doubt that Christianity had been protected 
by several emperors during the eighth and ninth 
centuries. And there seems reason to believe the 
truth of the narrative. Semedo published his his- 
tory before 1655, and therefore within thirty years 
after the alleged discovery of the tablet. He declares 
that a heathen sent an account of it to a Christian 
Mandarin at Hauchen, where there was much 
rejoicing among the Christians on account of it ; 
that he afterwards saw it himself at Siganfu, and 
translated it. Can all this be fiction? Supposing 
that he was capable of lying for the good of the 



History of China, by F. Alvarez Semedo, 157—165. 



168 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

church, there was here too great chance for detec- 
tion. It being so near the place and time, any 
European connected with China, who might read 
his work, could so easily detect the falsehood. The 
Franciscan and Dominican missionaries would re- 
joice in detecting a Jesuit in a lie, and some of 
the Chinese converts would certainly repair to the 
spot to ascertain its truth. Nor was there any 
motive to invent such a tale. The missionaries 
were not said to be Romanists but Syrians, and 
therefore it was not invented to honour Rome ; the 
fiction could not be invented for China, because 
there it must be at once discovered ; and in Europe 
it would detract from the merit of the Jesuit mis- 
sionaries rather than add to it, by showing that 
others had been as adventurous as they, and not 
less successful. On the whole, there seems reason 
to believe that Semedo did see the tablet as he 
asserted, and therefore that Christianity did indeed, 
about the seventh century, prevail to a considerable 
extent in China. Many churches were built, and 
several emperors in succession decidedly lent it 
their countenance. 

4. The Mahommedan faith, which was introduced 
in the thirteenth century, is still tolerated, and its 
professors are employed by the Government. 1 

5. In 1552, Xavier having preached along the 
coast of India, and in various islands of the Indian 
Archipelago, at length reached the Island of 



1 Davis, i. 15. 



PRACTICABILITY OP MISSIONS. 



169 



Sancean, and determined from thence to enter 
China. But being seized with fever, and lodged 
in an ill-built cabin belonging to George Alvarez, 
a Portuguese, without proper medical care, ra- 
pidly grew worse, and expired, December 2, 1552, 
aged 46. 1 September, 1583, Michael Eoggiero 
and Matthew Ricci were permitted by the Viceroy 
of Quang-tong to establish themselves in Chao-king, 
the capital of the province. 2 After twenty years 
of missionary labour, Eicci was at length summoned 
to Pekin, where a house and salary were assigned 
him ; 3 various persons were converted, and Man- 
darins even became preachers of the faith. One 
of the most illustrious of the converts was Paul 
Siu, minister of the Cabinet, whose daughter Can- 
dida, imitating her father's zeal, herself built thirty 
churches. Under these favourable circumstances 
the mission so extended, that there were ninety 
churches in Keang-nan alone. 4 In 1610 Ricci died ; 
but he was followed by Adam Schaal, who like 
him was an excellent mathematician, and soon 
obtained great influence at court. The mother of 
the emperor, his first wife and eldest son, all were 
baptized about the year 1636, but this was at the 
epoch of the Tartar invasion, and when a Tartar 
prince, Chun-tchi, having chased them from the 
northern provinces, took possession of the empire. 5 

1 Vie de St. Francois Xavierpar Bouhours, ii. 186. 

2 Semedo, 172 ; Du Halde, iii. 86. 

3 Du Halde, iii. 91. 4 lb, ; Gutzlaff's Voyages. 
5 Du Halde, iii. 98—100. 



170 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



The favour of the king de jure was not therefore 
very serviceable ; but happily for the Jesuits, the 
Tartar youth, who was king de facto, became 
so much attached to Schaal, as to make him Pre- 
sident of the Astronomical Board. 1 Under the 
favour of this monarch, fourteen missionaries en- 
tered the empire; " le Christianisme," says Du 
Halde, " devenoit florissant dans la capitale, et 
jettoit de profondes racines dans les provinces." 2 
But this prosperity was short-lived, for at the death 
of the emperor, who only reached the age of 24, 
a general persecution ensued. November, 1664, 
Schaal, Verbiest, their European companions, and 
various native Christians, were thrown into prison ; 
an assembly of Mandarins pronounced the Chris- 
tian doctrine false and pernicious, and that the 
missionaries deserved punishment as seducers of the 
people. Schaal was condemned to death. 3 Bat 
" toutes les fois qu'on voulut lire la sentence, un 
horrible tremblement de terre separa l'assemblee, 
et obligea ceux qui la composoient de sortir de la 
salle, pour n'etre pas accables sous ses ruines .... 
Le tremblement de terre, qui se fit sentir de nou- 
veau avec des secousses plus violentes, divers autres 
prodiges qui arriverent, le feu qui prit au Palais, 
et qui en consuma une grande partie; tout cela 
ouvrit les yeux a ces Juges iniques, et les con- 
vainquit que le ciel se declaroit en faveur de ceux 



1 Du Halde, iii. 104. 
3 lb. iii. 109. 



2 lb. iii. 105, 106. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



171 



qu'ils persecutioient si injusternent.'' 1 It is thus 
that a Jesuit will lie for the honour of his church. 
However, with or without the earthquakes, Schaal 
was released, and died in 1666, after forty-four 
years of missionary service. Four missionaries 
alone were allowed to remain at the capital, among 
whom was Verbiest. His mathematical abilities 
brought him into favour with the young Emperor 
Kang-he, under whose influence a court of justice 
pronounced that the Christian doctrine had been 
unjustly condemned ; and that it taught nothing 
against the peace of the State. The missionaries 
were now recalled, and Christian Mandarins were 
restored to their offices ; but the people were for- 
bidden to become Christians. In defiance however 
of that clause in the edict, or perhaps in conse- 
quence of it, twenty thousand Chinese, among 
whoin was the emperor's maternal uncle, and a 
Tartar general, were baptized ; Christianity began 
to spread through the provinces ; and notwithstand- 
ing the death of Verbiest, continued to gain ground, 
till at length, March 22, 1692, the Supreme Tri- 
bunal of Rites passed the following decree : " Since 
then we hinder neither the Lamas of Tartary nor 
the Bonzes of China having their temples and 
offering incense in them to their idols ; much less 
can we forbid Europeans, who neither do nor teach 
any thing contrary to good laws, having their 
private churches and openly teaching their religion 



1 Du Halde, iii. 110. 

i2 



172 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

in theni. These two things would certainly be 
quite contrary to one another, and we should evi- 
dently appear to contradict ourselves. Our judg- 
ment then is, that the temples which are dedicated 
to the Lord of heaven, wherever they are found, 
shall be preserved ; and that all those who desire 
to honour him, may be allowed to enter into his tem- 
ples, to offer incense to him, and to worship as the 
Christians worship, according to their ancient cus- 
tom. So that none in future shall make any oppo- 
sition to it." 1 

Numbers of Jesuits now flocked to China, to 
twenty of whom the emperor assigned salaries 
amounting to £9,200 per annum. He granted a 
site for a church e< to the honour of the Sovereign 
Lord of heaven," accompanying that grant with 
a donation in money ; and when his Ministers com- 
plained of its grandeur, he replied : " It is my fault, 
they had my orders to build it so." December 9, 
1702, it was solemnly opened; many missionaries 
attended, converts came to the ceremony from all 
parts, and at the close of the service numbers of 
catechumens were baptized. At the death of 
Kang-he, in 1722, Yong-tching his successor, re- 
taining only a few missionaries at Pekin, of whose 
knowledge in the arts and sciences he wished to 
avail himself, banished all the rest. More than 
three hundred churches were destroyed, or con- 
verted into idol temples ; and more than three 



1 Du Halde, iii. 110—112, 119, 137. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



173 



hundred thousand Christians were left without their 
pastors ; a few native priests alone remaining. 1 

For those European missionaries who had secretly 
re-entered, Keen-lung-, on his accession in 1736, 
made strict search throughout his dominions. Some 
were seized and tortured, and others imprisoned. 
Peter Sans was put to death ; churches were plun- 
dered; and the property of Christians was confiscated : 
Since that time the mission has been in a declining 
state. In 1815, two native Christians were strangled, 
and thirty-eight banished. In 1820, a French 
missionary was strangled, and L'Amiot, who had 
been twenty-seven years at Pekin, was banished 
to Macao. Still there are twenty-six thousand 
Roman Catholics in Pekin, with two French 
priests ; they have congregations in all the pro- 
vinces, and as late as 1810 there were still, through- 
out the empire, six bishops, twenty-three mission- 
aries, eighty native teachers, and two hundred and 
fifteen thousand converts. 2 

6. Since the reign of Kang-he there has been, 
and still is, a Greek church at Pekin, at which 
the Russian commercial resident and others at- 
tend. 3 

7. Lastly, for thirty years various Protestant 
missionaries have been engaged in laying the foun- 
dations of a Protestant mission. 

September 4, 1807, Mr. Morrison landed at 

1 Du Halde, iii. 138, 141, 152, 154. 

2 Davis, i. 34, 35 ; Medhurst's China, 240—245. 

3 Milne's History, 15. 



174 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS 



Macao. 1 At that time there was no translation of 
the Scriptures into the Chinese language, no Chris- 
tian tracts except such as were defaced by Romish 
errors, no English and Chinese Dictionary, no 
English and Chinese Grammar ; and the language 
itself, unique in its construction, and without an 
alphabet, seemed to a European an impracticable 
chaos, into which few had the courage to plunge. 
Mr. Morrison formed a Grammar, which was print- 
ed by the East India Company in 1815, and a Dic- 
tionary, which was likewise printed by them in 1822. 
He then wrote various religious tracts; in 1814 
finished the New Testament; 2 and afterwards in 
conjunction with Dr. Milne, who joined him in 1813, 3 
he accomplished the translation of the Old Testa- 
ment, which was printed in 1818/ Since that time 
various other religious and useful works have been 
written, conveying, with a knowledge of the doc- 
trines and principles of the Gospel, some informa- 
tion respecting the geography of the earth, the 
state of the nations of Europe, and other subjects 
likely to awaken the curiosity of the empire. 5 Up 
to 1838 the missionaries had printed two thousand 
Bibles, ten thousand New Testaments, thirty thou- 
sand separate books of Scripture, and five hundred 
thousand tracts. 6 

A large number of these have been put into circu- 
lation in the maritime proyinces of the empire; 

1 Milne's History, 63. 2 Medhurst, 259, 262, 268. 

3 Milne, 103. « Medhurst, 266. 

5 Voyage of the Amherst, 44. 6 Medhurst, 362. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



175 



several voyages having been made for this purpose. 
In 1831, Mr. GutzlafT sailed in a Chinese junk from 
Bankok to Teen-tsin, in the province of Peh- 
chih-le. 1 In 1832, the Lord Amherst made a 
commercial voyage along the coast from Canton 
to the Promontory of Shantung, and thence to 
Corea, and Mr. Gutzlaff accompanied the expedi- 
tion. In the winter of 1832, Mr. Gutzlaff made a 
third voyage of equal extent in an English trading 
vessel, called the Sylph ; and in 1835, Messrs. 
Medhurst and Stevens made a similar voyage in 
a vessel which was hired for missionary purposes 
alone. 

The following account will show the readiness 
of the people to receive Christian books at the 
different places to which, on these several voyages, 
the missionaries had access. 

At Teen-tsin, Mr. Gutzlaff being invited by 
Kam-sea, a rich merchant, to his house, a Man- 
darin of high rank said that he would give him 
a passport to Pekin. Many applied for medicines ; 
several persons of rank paid him frequent visits: 
and at length the crowds of visitors became so 
great, that a trader offered the captain of the junk 
2000 taels (2700 dollars) for the right to retain 
him, with a view to attract customers by having 
him to show. At his departure, after a residence 
of three weeks, many persons came to take an 

1 There is great variation in the spelling of Chinese names in 
different books; they are here given according to the map in 
Aledhurst's China. 



176 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



affectionate leave, and some made him promise 
that he would, if possible, return, assuring him 
that they would then accompany him to the ca- 
pital. 1 

At Che-a-tow, on the coast of Shantung, the 
inhabitants crowded the beach on the arrival of the 
missionaries, and eagerly seized the books offered, 
some of which they afterwards saw exposed for 
sale in the shops. 2 

At Ke-san-so, crowds surrounded them on the 
beach, eager for books, and at length, seizing a 
basket-full, divided them among the applicants. 
Many others waded to the boat to get them, or 
came in boats from different parts of the bay for 
the same purpose. 3 In a village near Wei-hae, 
the crowds assembled round the missionaries, 
eagerly received tracts ; and, though cudgelled by 
the police, thrust their hands into the tract basket 
for tracts, and then instantly concealed them from 
the Mandarins in their long sleeves. At other vil- 
lages in the bay, the missionaries went from house 
to house, conversing as freely as at a village in Eng- 
land. Sometimes the people were so eager, that they 
drove them to their boat, and then waded into the 
water to get the books. Thus they passed through 
eight villages, generally finding the inhabitants 
anxious to receive their books: and on one occa- 
sion, they gave fifty volumes to some friendly 

1 Gutzlaff's Voyages, 130—134, 142. 

2 Medhurst, 406. 3 lb. 399, 400, 402. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



177 



Mandarins and their attendants. 1 At Lew-kung- 
taou Island, they distributed their books without 
the least opposition, and on the whole distributed 
on this part of the coast about three thousand 
volumes. On the south side of Shantung Promon- 
tory, at Tsing-hae, numbers received them in a 
friendly manner, and took their books eagerly in 
presence of a Mandarin. They then visited other 
villages in the neighbourhood, where they were 
well received, as they were also at Nan-hung, a 
village further down the coast. 2 

In the large commercial city of Shang-hae, in 
Kiang-nan, the principal emporium of Eastern 
Asia, Mr. Lindsay says, " I distributed pamphlets 
and trading papers in all the shops, which both 
the people and Mandarins showed the greatest 
anxiety to receive ; and while walking through the 
crowd, we were on all sides assailed with entreaties 
for a copy of this little work (a tract on the English 
Nation), the effect of which, upon the minds of 
the people, wherever we have been, perfectly sur- 
prised ourselves." The friendly disposition of the 
people towards the gentlemen of the Amherst was 
strongly apparent. 3 When Mr. Gutzlaff offered 
books to them, they seized them eagerly from his 
hands in public, and he distributed them from house 
to house without molestation. 4 

1 Medhurst, 385—387, 393—395. 

2 lb. 386, 423, 426, 428, 435, 436. 

3 Voyage of the Amherst, 179, 182. 

4 Gutzlaff's Voyages, 302, 303. 

i3 



178 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



When the Huron visited Shang-hae, multitudes 
thronged to the boat, who pressed so eagerly to 
receive books, notwithstanding the long bamboos 
of the police were playing about their heads, that 
after distributing them singly for some time, Mr. 
Stevens was obliged to put them into thousands 
of upraised hands as fast as he was able : they were 
accepted too by Mandarins and their attendants : 
so that on the whole about a thousand volumes 
were distributed. 1 In the neighbourhood of the 
town of Woo-sung, lower down the river, the 
gentlemen of the Amherst frequently landed, and 
66 never met with any thing but the greatest friend- 
liness on the part of the natives, who were always 
much more cordial and frank in their manners 
when they were alone." 2 On the opposite side of 
the river, some books were distributed by GutzlafF 
to attentive readers, and many persons visiting 
the vessel received books ; but when Gutzlaff visited 
them six months afterwards in the Sylph, he could 
" scarcely show his face in any of the villages with- 
out being importuned by numerous crowds," the 
Mandarins never interfering with him either in 
Shang-hae or the neighbourhoods The mission- 
aries in the Huron, landing at Woo-sung, distri- 
buted their tracts in the presence of two Man- 
darins, who kept the people quiet : and when the 
missionaries explained the object of their mission, 



1 Medhurst, 452—463. » Voyage of the Amherst, 187. 

3 Gutzlaff's Voyages, 308, 309, 427. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



179 



both Mandarins and people assented to its pro- 
priety. After this, landing near another village, 
they found the shore lined with hundreds of people, 
who received their books greedily, struggling with 
each other who should have them first; so that 
the sailor who brought the books up the shore was 
several times pushed down by the pressure. And 
on the southern bank of the river having been 
opposed by a Mandarin (who had a bridge removed 
that they might not cross a stream to distribute 
their books), they at length induced him himself 
to distribute many of them. 1 About fifteen miles 
N. E. of Woo-sung is the large alluvial island of 
Tsung-ming, 60 miles in length, and about 15 in 
breadth, formed by the Yang-tsze-keang, and now 
containing about five hundred thousand inhabitants. 
Of them Mr. Lindsay reports : " The friendly de- 
meanour of these simple people, who now for the 
first time in their lives beheld a European, sur- 
passed any thing we had hitherto witnessed ; and 
there being no Mandarin in the place, no artificial 
check was placed to the natural friendly impulse 
of their hearts. Having observed that the apricot 
pleased us, numbers came to us, offering the finest 
they could select. On all sides we were requested 
to bestow a copy of the pamphlet, (on England,) 
of which we distributed about twenty ; and a crowd 
was immediately formed round the possessor to 
read it. On our return, we were escorted by at 

1 Medhurst, 449, 464, 470. 

i4 



180 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



least three hundred people of all ages, many of 
whom offered and begged us to accept presents 
of fish and vegetables; and anxiously expressed a 
hope that we would return another day. On re- 
turning, the country people from all quarters had 
gathered to see us pass, and by the time we reached 
our boat, at least six hundred people were assem- 
bled; and all seemed to vie which should be the 
most kind and friendly. Such is in general the 
true Chinese character when removed from the 
influence and example of their Mandarins." 1 

Mr. Gutzlaff adds, " we had taken with us a 
great number of books, chiefly of the Scriptures. 
At first, they hesitated to receive them; but, on 
glancing at the contents, the people became cla- 
morous for more." 2 And when the Huron visited 
them, " the people were exceedingly kind and 
friendly, and all anxious for books." When it was 
reported that they had brought books, they issued 
from their houses, ran over the fields, and waded 
through the dikes to get them. 3 

Mr. Lindsay and his companions landed at 
ISmg-po, in Che-keang, amidst a vast crowd, and 
were lodged in the hall of the Fokien merchants ; 
here an endless succession of visitors, merchants, 
shop-keepers, and inferior mandarins, begged for 
copies of the pamphlet on England, pouring in 
till midnight. The next morning their lodging- 
was surrounded by a great crowd, and when they 

1 Voyage of the Amherst, 192 — 195. 

2 Gutzlaff's Voyages, 299. 3 Medhurst, 473. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 181 



went out as well to gratify the curiosity of the 
people as their own, they were hailed on all sides 
with the strongest expressions of good will, and 
the satisfaction which the prospect of a renewal 
of foreign trade excited in the people's minds." 1 

At Chapoo, near Xing-po, Gutzlaff found the 
people frank and kind; when the distribution of 
books began, hundreds stretched out their hands 
to receive them. On one occasion he saw the 
people watching their vessel from the top of 
a hill for six hours before he left it, and then 
rushing down to the shore to get the expected 
books. At another part of the coast they did 
not cease importuning till they had obtained 
all his books. At Ke-tow point, having relieved 
a poor man who was almost blind, he won the good 
opinion of the people, who listened to instruction, 
and thankfully received the books. Leaving the 
Continent, he next visited an island where the 
priests were so anxious to obtain books, that upon 
learning that they had distributed all the store 
which they had brought, they almost wept for dis- 
appointment. At Kintang, another island, their 
books were rapidly distributed, and eagerly read 
by the people, who expressed great joy to see 
them. 2 

When Mr. Gutzlaff visited them again, the Man- 
darins were present, and the people afraid, but 
in the southern part of the island all doors were 

1 Voyage of the Amherst, 101 — 104. 

2 Gutzlaff's Voyages, 272, 430, 432, 433, 437. 



182 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



open to him, the people came out from their houses 
to offer him tea, and the Scriptures were welcomed 
by willing readers. 1 Mr. Medhurst found the 
inhabitants on the north-east of the island most 
friendly, their books eagerly accepted, women came 
out to beg for them, boys followed them to get 
tracts, and in one place they were obliged to get 
upon a wall that they might avoid the pressure 
of the crowd. 

At the island of Ta-ping-shan, many came run- 
ning over the fields to get their books, which were 
received with joy. 2 

At the island of Choo-shan, with a population 
of one million souls, the people chased Gutzlaff 
and his sailors to get the books, which they carried 
off with shouts of joy, others being as much dis- 
concerted that they had failed to obtain them. 3 
When Medhurst landed there, numbers were dis- 
tributed from the boat, numbers on the shore, 
and in passing through the town he saw one in 
the hand of almost every shop-keeper. A second 
time, when they proceeded through several neigh- 
bouring villages, they found old and young, male 
and female, anxious to obtain them, and when 
they returned to the town, a crowd was waiting 
for them, who " darted upon the stock which they 
brought like birds of prey." 4 

At Poo-to, an island occupied almost exclusively 
by Buddhist priests, these dronish functionaries 



1 Gutzlaff's Voyages, 436. 
3 Gutzlaff, 447. 



2 Medhurst, 478, 479. 
4 Medhurst, 480, 481. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



183 



eagerly received every volume offered to them. 
Numbers began at once to read the books, having 
scarcely any attention to devote to the strangers. 
A second visit brought a greater number of priests, 
each earnestly begging for at least one tract. On 
another occasion they waded into the water, and 
some even swam out to obtain books. 1 At the 
time of Medhurst's visit the books were readily 
accepted on the whole island, but curiosity had 
subsided, and there was none of the intense eager- 
ness excited by the first distribution. 2 

When the gentlemen of the Amherst landed at 
Fuh-chow, in Fun-keen, the inhabitants crowded 
round, were very civil, and in answer to their re- 
peated inquiries, received the tract upon the English 
nation. Here, by order of the Deputy-Governor 
of Fuh-keen, a Mandarin having asked for copies 
of their books to be sent to the emperor, a tract on 
gambling, a summary of Christian doctrine, some 
extracts from the Scriptures, and some other tracts 
were given to him. 

In the neighbourhood of the city, there were 
frequent opportunities of distributing books. When 
on board, Mr. Gutzlaff was fully employed in ad- 
ministering medicines to the sick. On this subject 
Mr. Lindsay writes, " I should be guilty of great 
injustice, if I omitted strongly to express my sen- 
timents of the great advantages which have been 

1 Gutzlaff's Voyages, 438, 440, 444. 

2 Medhurst, 486. 



184 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

derived from the services of Mr. GutzlafF ; to which 
I consider we were greatly indebted for the extra- 
ordinary degree of respect and friendship shown 
to us by all classes of Chinese. Since the first 
day of our arrival, gratuitous medical assistance 
and medicines were freely given by him to all who 
applied for them ; and during the three weeks we 
were at this place rarely a day elapsed in which 
more than one hundred patients did not profit by 
his humane labours. The fame of this circum- 
stance spread far and near, and in some instances 
attracted persons from the distance of more than 
fifty miles. In many cases of wounds and cu- 
taneous disorders his practice was very successful; 
and it was most pleasing to behold the gratitude 
demonstrated by these poor people for their cure." 1 
To these sick persons Mr. GutzlafF distributed the 
Scriptures, which thus made their way into the 
neighbouring villages. During their stay, the 
number of applicants for books continued to in- 
crease ; and the applications were made in so 
earnest a manner that they could not be refused. 2 
As soon as the Amherst anchored in the river, the 
inhabitants of a village named Hoo-keang came 
alongside of it, and asked the strangers to visit 
them ; at their request, Messrs. Lindsay and Gutz- 
lafF landed and walked through the village. They 
were every where assailed with entreaties for their 

1 Voyage of the Amherst, 87. 

2 Gutzlaff's Voyages, 227, 228, 232. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



185 



books. These were a pamphlet on England, a 
tract against tying, a tract against gambling, a 
tract on honesty, various papers containing in- 
formation respecting geography and other sciences, 
mixed with Scripture lectures ; and lastly, copies of 
separate books of the Scripture. When about to 
return to the ship, they were invited to dine in a 
public hall, where their hosts waited on them ; and 
where, although the crowd of spectators was dense, 
there was the utmost kindness and decorum mani- 
fested by all. A few days later, when these gen- 
tlemen had been rudely treated by the Mandarins 
at Fuh-chow, these villagers sent a deputation of 
elders to the vessel with the following paper, ac- 
companied by this remark, " Our Mandarins are 
rogues, but the piksary, (the people,) are your 
friends." 1 " We, the inhabitants of this village, 
have never yet seen you foreigners, ('foreigners,' 
not barbarians.) All people crowd on board your 
ship to behold you, and a tablet is hung up therein, 
stating that there is a physician for the assistance 
of mankind : there are also tracts against gam- 
bling, and other writings, besides a treatise on your 
country, with odes and books ; all which make 
manifest your friendly, kind, and virtuous hearts. 
This is highly praiseworthy ; but as our language 
differs, difficulties will attend our intercourse. The 
civil and military Mandarins of the Fokien pro- 
vince, together with their soldiers and satellites, are 



1 Voyage of the Amherst, 44, 45, 62. 



186 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



unprincipled in their disposition. If you wish to 
trade here, wait upon his Excellency the Foo-yuen ; 
prostrate yourselves, and ask permission. If he 
complies, you may then do so ; but if he refuses, 
then go to the districts of Loo and Kang, and there 
trade ; for in that place there is neither a despot 
nor a master. When you have fully understood 
this, burn the paper." 1 Other villages were after- 
wards visited, the inhabitants of which were " in- 
variably friendly and communicative." 2 At one 
of the INan-yih islands the people crowded to 
the shore " like ants," eagerly seeking the books ; 
and when the missionaries passed through the 
villages, they hurried across the fields or ran from 
their houses, with their potato broth in their hands, 
to get them. Women even, though with their feet 
compressed to the size of four inches, and with 
their ankles swollen, they could only hobble to- 
wards them, hastened with eager solicitude for 
books. 3 

When the Amherst visited Amoy, they were 
warmly welcomed by the crowd, who expressed 
great delight at hearing Mr. GutzlafF speak. On 
this subject Mr. Lindsay reports, " On many oc- 
casions, when Mr, GutzlafF has been surrounded 
by hundreds of eager listeners, he has been inter- 
rupted by loud expressions of the pleasure with 
which they listened to his pithy and indeed eloquent 

1 Voyage of the Amherst, 62, 63. 

2 Gutzlaffs Voyages, 227. 

3 Medhurst,490. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS, 



187 



language. From haying lived so long among the 
lower classes of the Fokien people, Mr. Gutzlaff 
has obtained a knowledge of their peculiarities, 
both of thought and language, which no study of 
books can convey ; and this is coupled to a tho- 
rough acquaintance with the Chinese classics, 
which the Chinese are ever delighted to hear 
quoted, and a copiousness of language which few 
foreigners ever acquire in any tongue besides their 
own. The power which this gives any person over 
the minds of the Chinese, who are peculiarly sus- 
ceptible to reasonable argument, is extraordinary." 1 
Gutzlaff often conversed with the people and gave 
them books. 2 

At Tung-san bay the missionaries of the Huron 
soon collected a crowd so eager and clamorous for 
their gifts, that to avoid the pressure they climbed 
a rock eight feet high, whence they distributed 
their tracts to the hundred hands held out for them. 
After this another crowd followed them to the boat, 
many wading into the water above their knees to 
get the tracts. Thence they removed to another 
part of the shore, where again the crowd was so 
dense and importunate, that the mate of the vessel 
was obliged to hand out the books from the top of 
a high wall to the crowd below. The next day, at 
the north-west of the bay, other villages received 

1 Voyage of the Amherst, 18, 31. 

2 Gutzlaff's Voyages, 181. 



188 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



their books with equal alacrity, and some of the 
people were so delighted to hear Medhurst speak 
in their own dialect that they danced for joy. 1 In 
Lae-ao (Nae-aou) bay, the Sylph was surrounded 
with clamorous applicants who, when the ship 
weighed anchor, and was getting under way, clung 
to the tackle, exclaiming, " we must have these 
good books," and only relaxed their hold upon 
receiving what they so earnestly sought. 2 At one 
of the Pang-hoo islands, the books were distributed 
by GutzlafF and attentively read. 3 

When the Amherst touched at Woo-teaou-Kang, 
on the island of Formosa, they were visited by 
numbers of fishermen, who earnestly asked for 
books. On shore too they found many anxious to 
have them. 4 

At Kea-tsze, in the province of Canton, the in- 
habitants warmly welcomed the Amherst, and when 
they visited some neighbouring villages crowds 
followed them, who, when they received books, 
expressed their wonder that the foreigners should 
possess books in their language, and still more 
that they should give them for nothing. And 
when the Sylph touched there some months later, 
Mr. GutzlafF was hailed as a countryman, and his 
books much more eagerly received. 

1 Medhurst, 491—493, 496. 

2 Gutzlaff's Voyages, 415, 416. 

3 lb. 198. 

4 Voyage of the Amherst, 35. GutzlafF, 203, 205. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



189 



At Keseak the people received books with many 
thanks, and promised to distribute them far and 
wide among their friends. 1 

At Makung the people were exceedingly de- 
lighted at the arrival of the Amherst; gave them 
sweetmeats and tea in their houses ; and gladly 
received the Christian books which were offered to 
them, 3 and on the whole, the people of Canton 
province showed themselves to be no less friendly 
than those of the other provinces visited by the 
missionaries. " During the last month," says 
Mr. Lindsay, " we had constant intercourse with 
the people at every place where we stopped. 
Strangers, and unprotected either by any force of 
our own, or by the countenance of their government, 
we had repeatedly entered their villages and been 
surrounded by hundreds of Chinese ; and instead 
of the rudeness and insult which is but too frequent 
near Canton, we had met with nothing but ex- 
pressions of friendship and good will." 3 

Thus, in four separate voyages, (not to mention 
subsequent ones, details of which have not ap- 
peared,) the experiment of Scripture distribution 
has been made successfully in all the maritime pro- 
vinces, excepting Pih-chih-lee, and there a mission- 
ary, alone among the natives, has freely spoken of 
Christ for three weeks without molestation. 

With this evidence we may well believe that a 

1 Gutzlaff, 158, 159, 414,415. 

2 Gutzlaff's Voyages, 155. 

3 Voyage of the Amherst, 10. 



190 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



little patient effort will introduce the Gospel very 
extensively to the notice of the empire. Should 
the Emperor be converted, his influence as a Chris- 
tian would be most powerfully felt. He has the 
nomination of his ministers, who hold their offices 
at his pleasure. Every Mandarin in the empire 
is advanced or degraded as he wills ; he appoints 
his successor, is an absolute autocrat, has the 
command of vast revenues, and is worshipped as 
a god. The friendship of Kang-he for the mis- 
sionaries, though he remained a Confucian, greatly 
extended the Roman Catholic missions, and a con- 
verted emperor would be far more hearty in his 
services. But the progress of the Gospel does not 
depend upon this event. If the Taou sect and 
the Buddhists are completely tolerated, there is 
no a priori necessity arising from the constitution 
of the government or the fixed laws of the land, 
that Christianity should be persecuted. The govern- 
ment which tolerates one form of dissent may allow 
others. There is indeed this great difference be- 
tween the worshippers of Buddh and Christians, 
that the former may conform to the state worship 
in conjunction with their own; whereas Christians 
can only worship God; and their condemnation of 
all forms of false religion has always been found to 
be a reason why they should be persecuted, even 
by those heathen governments which would allow 
all other forms of religion. The toleration of the 31a- 
hommedans who persecute idolaters, and of Roman 
Catholics who ought at least to condemn them, 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



191 



offers no adequate ground why Protestants should 
be tolerated ; because both Mahommedans and 
Romanists offered divine honours to the manes of 
their ancestors, to Chinese sages, and to Teen or 
the heavens, according to Chinese law. But 
though the toleration of these accommodating sects 
does not prove that the true disciples of Christ 
will therefore be tolerated, this at least it shows, 
that the genius of the Chinese Government is by 
no means to proscribe all religions but its own. 
Menacing edicts, it is true, have been recently 
issued against Christianity ; but then it must be 
borne in mind that the Romanists, whose corrupt 
form of Christianity is all with which they are 
acquainted, were troublesome to the provincial 
governors ; and of the English they know nothing, 
except that they have conquered India, and might 
possibly add China to their conquests. Time may 
undeceive the Government on both these points, 
showing them that England has no territorial ambi- 
tion, and that our evangelists have no wish for civil 
power. Whether this happens or no, these edicts, 
like the laws against emigration and trade, will 
never be generally enforced. A few persons may 
suffer, but no one acquainted with China, in the 
least expects any great persecution. The empire is 
too large, and the people too indifferent to their 
religions. Before the edict of 1836, similar edicts 
were in existence. This has added nothing to the 
law; and if the proceedings of the Amherst, the 
Sylph, and the Huron have excited some political 



192 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

fears, these will assuredly subside when they see 
that no effort of English ambition follows. As- 
suming then that the edicts never will be acted on 
more than they have been already, the whole coast 
is open to our preparatory operations. From Wei- 
hae to Canton, in cities and villages, on the main 
land and in the islands, whether the missionary 
sailed in a trading vessel, or avowed that his whole 
business was to promote religion, whether he came 
with a well-manned vessel capable of repelling 
aggression, or placed himself unarmed in their 
hands, he found the people ready to receive Chris- 
tian books, most of them able to read, and nearly 
all frank, sociable, and courteous. Fresh efforts 
will only deepen the impression made by past visits, 
and stir up a more abundant curiosity ; while the 
tracts distributed along the coast will, by sale or 
gift, find their way into the interior. 

But this is far from being the only hope for 
China. Should the energy of the Government rouse 
all its slumbering Mandarins, its rusty matchlocks, 
and its trembling soldiers, to chase away every 
European from its shores ; and should our Govern- 
ment not think it right to frighten Pekin by the 
sight of some English seventy-fours in the gulph of 
Pi-chih-lee, still the Archipelago remains. Singa- 
pore, Malacca and Penang, Bankok and Batavia 
will still receive Chinese settlers and Chinese junks. 
The law may threaten the emigrant and the trader 
with death, but hunger is more powerful than tyran- 
ny. In the face of those laws, hundreds of thousands 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



193 



have settled in these countries, and the swarming 
land will still pour out hundreds of thousands 
more. Every year its trade increases, and despite 
the Government it will. No earthly power then 
can hinder hundreds of Chinese settlers, merchants, 
and sailors from becoming acquainted with the 
nations of Europe. No Chinese authority can 
prevent European and American missionaries from 
holding with myriads whatever intercourse they 
please. Let the Word of God be expelled from 
the empire, it can be preached to the inhabitants 
of Chi na in all the British settlements, in Java 
and Siam. Let it be impossible to form churches 
in Fuh-keen and Che-keang, they may be formed 
still at Singapore, at Penang, at Batavia, and at 
Macao. There is a nation outside the great wall 
to be instructed and evangelized, which will yearly 
throw off more of their prejudices as they become 
acquainted with Europeans, and will yearly be 
more accessible to Christian missionaries. And 
should many of these be converted, what is to 
hinder them pervading every maritime province, 
preaching the Gospel in every provincial city, and 
penetrating to the sources of the Hoang-ho and 
the Yang-tsze-keang, to the mountains of Thibet, 
and to the frontiers of Mongolia ? 

The preparations for this great work are now 
going on in the adjacent countries. By Section 
220 of the Penal Code, it is enacted, that if a 
person passes the frontier, without a license, and 

K 



194 



PEACTIC ABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



communicates with foreign nations, he shall be 
strangled. Section 224 enacts that if any persons 
carry out the productions and inventions of the 
country to foreigners beyond the frontiers, or shall 
have plotted the means of removing themselves or 
others out of the empire, they shall, principals and 
accessaries, be beheaded. And to prevent all com- 
munication with foreigners by sea, none of the 
small islands along the coast, at any distance from 
the main land, shall be inhabited. By Section 
225, whoever exports horses, cattle, iron, copper, 
corn, silks, or satins, shall receive a hundred blows; 
and the goods shall be forfeited : and all per- 
sons who clandestinely proceed to sea to trade, or 
who remove to foreign islands for the purpose of 
inhabiting and cultivating them, shall be beheaded. 1 
Yet, notwithstanding these severe enactments, the 
desire of wealth, or the still more powerful motive 
of extreme want, has induced numbers of Chinese 
to emigrate to foreign countries, and a brisk trade 
is kept up with various parts of the Indian Archi- 
pelago. Penang, with Province Wellesleg, be- 
came a British settlement in 1786 ; it was then 
inhabited by a few Malay fishermen, but in 1828, 
the population was become 60,551, of which 19,137 
were Chinese. Malacca, another British settle- 
ment on the Malayan Peninsula, had, at the 
latest return, 32,817 inhabitants, of whom 4748 
were Chinese. 

1 Staunton's Penal Code, 232, 237, 238, 544. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



195 



The Island of Singapore, a third British settle- 
ment, was in 1820 a jungle, with a few Malay 
huts; it had in 1832 a population of 20,917, of 
whom 8,517 were Chinese. 1 And some years since, 
Mr. Crawford, who had been the British Resident 
at Singapore, estimated the number of Chinese 
emigrants as follows : 

Philippine Islands - 15,000 

Borneo ----- 120,000 

Java - 45,000 

Rhio 18,000 

Malayan Peninsula - 40,000 

Siam ------ 440,000 

Cochin China - 15,000 

Tonquin - - - - 25,000 

Thus there are now about 750,402 Chinese 
without the limits of the empire, of which number 
32,402 are living in the British settlements. Nor 
does this statement give the whole number at pre- 
sent ; since it was made several years since ; and 
the number is annually increasing. 3500 Emi- 
grants arrived at Singapore in 1825, 5500 more in 
1826, and the annual number arriving in Siam is 
about 7000. 2 

On the other hand the laws against foreign trade 
are as ill observed as those against emigration. 

1 Martin, i. 415, 422, 430. 

2 lb. i. 450. The annual number is now about 5000, of whom 
about 1000 remain at Singapore, and the remainder disperse them- 
selves over the neighbouring islands. Martin, i. 432. 

K 2 



196 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



About 80 Chinese junks from Hainan, Canton, 
Soakah, Amoy, INTing-po, and Shang-hae, trade 
annually with Bankok : and the whole number 
employed in the foreign trade is believed by Mr, 
Crawford to be as follows : Chinese junks trading 
to Japan 20, to Borneo 13, to Siam 89, besides 
a large number of smaller vessels belonging to 
Hainan. 1 Many of these settlers and seamen ne- 
cessarily come into contact with Europeans ; 
some of them are living under British law; and 
to numbers of them the missionaries have free 
access. 

To instruct a part of this population, missions 
have accordingly been formed at Macao, Malacca, 
Penang, Singapore, and Batavia. And though 
very much fruit has not followed from years of 
patient labour, enough has been done to encourage 
Christians at home to redoubled efforts. 

Macao, the first missionary station of the London 
Society, may be considered as without the empire, 
since the Chinese Government long ago ceded the 
sovereignty of the place to the Portuguese, and 
though of late years it has again laid claim to it 
so far as to exercise jurisdiction over its Chinese 
inhabitants, still the Portuguese live under their 
own laws. There Morrison laboured, dividing his 
time between Macao and Canton. He had neither 
leisure nor opportunities for public preaching to 
the Chinese ; but his conversations were blessed to 



1 Martin, 438, 481. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



197 



some of them. Tsae-a-ko, the first convert, was bap- 
tized in 1814 ; and lived according to his profession 
till his death. In 1823, Mr. Morrison, before visit- 
ing England, solemnly set apart Leang-afa, a Chi- 
nese convert, to preach to his countrymen in his 
absence; 1 and the number of converts in Canton 
has since increased to ten. 

In 1815, Mr. Milne commenced a mission at 
Malacca. There, in 1818, Dr. Morrison founded 
the Anglo-Chinese College to instruct Europeans 
in the Chinese language, and Chinese students in 
European literature. In 1823, there were fifteen 
students in the college, who had given up idol wor- 
ship, and joined in the religious exercises of the 
missionaries. In 1834, forty students had finished 
their education, part of whom were sincere Chris- 
tians, and the others respectable members of so- 
ciety. In 1836, there were seventy students in the 
college, four of whom were baptized in that year. 
In 1835, the Chinese attending public worship 
amounted to two hundred and fifty, thirty of whom 
were Christians. 2 In April, 1837, nineteen Chinese 
were baptized, four men, four women, six young 
persons, and five children ; and in the month of 
May, ten more, two of whom are preparing for the 
ministry. 3 And at this time there are six pious 
Chinese students, consistent in their conduct, stu- 



1 Medhurst, 270. 
3 lb. 323, 325. 



2 lb. 312, 316, 321, 322. 



198 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



dious, and zealous in the cause of Christ, preparing 
for ordination. 1 

In 1819, a mission was founded at Penang, 2 
where a chapel has been built, tracts have been 
distributed, the missionaries have preached from 
house to house, and where two missionaries con- 
tinue to labour. 

In 1819, a mission was formed at Singapore, 
where a chapel was built, and after some time three 
natives baptized. The station is now occupied by 
two English and by four American missionaries. 3 

In 1814 a mission was commenced at Batavia, in 
the island of Java. Chinese schools have been 
established, books have been published, and Chinese 
tracts have been circulated ; a chapel has been 
built, a printing-press is kept at work, and the 
Christian body has lately been reinforced by the 
arrival of two American missionaries : but one 
Chinese only has been baptized. 4 Although in all 
these places the Chinese settlers are devoted to 
gain, and Chinese sailors are often profligate, still 
all receive Christian books readily, all are un- 
learning their Chinese prejudices, and many will 
carry back European knowledge and Christian 
books to their own land. But that on which we 

1 London Missionary Report for 1838, 27. 

2 Medhurst, 325. 

3 lb. 327, 328. Missionary Register, March, 1838. 

4 Third Report of the Episcopal Board of Missions. Med- 
hurst, 329, 360. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



199 



have most, under God, to depend is the gradual 
formation from among the converts, of a body of 
native preachers, who will be able with less diffi- 
culty than Europeans to penetrate the empire itself. 
One has already entered on this work, whose la- 
bours have met with encouraging success. 

Nov. 3, 1816, Leang-afa, who had been long con- 
nected with the mission, was well instructed in the 
nature of the true religion, and had often united 
with Mr. Milne in private prayer, after having 
been seriously examined as to his views and mo- 
tives, was baptized ; 1 being then thirty-three years 
old. Some time after his conversion he wrote an 
essay, entitled " The True Principles of the World's 
Salvation ;" and having returned home to visit his 
native village, in the province of Canton, had a 
hundred copies printed there; but before they 
could be put in circulation he was apprehended and 
brought before the Mandarin. By this magistrate, 
his believing in Jesus, and his printing Christian 
books, were pronounced to be violations of the 
law ; and he was ordered into confinement, from 
which he did not escape, though Dr. Morrison ob- 
tained for him the intercession of various persons, 
till he had paid seventy dollars to the officers, and 
had received thirty blows with the bamboo, which 
made the blood flow from the soles of his feet. 2 In 
1823, as already mentioned, he was set apart by Dr. 

1 Milne, 177. 

2 Medhurst, 310. Missionary Annual for 1835. 



200 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



Morrison, at Canton, to preach the Gospel to his 
countrymen, and since that has been labouring 
faithfully. The next year he wrote a treatise on the 
Christian religion, and a commentary on the He- 
brews, and then a paraphrase on the Romans. In 
1828, Keu Teen-ching, a young man, devoted to the 
profession of literature, was converted through his 
instrumentality, and baptized. In 1830, Keuh Agang 
was baptized by him. In the same year Afa, with 
one of the converts, visited Kaou-chou-foo, 150 
miles S. W. of Canton, at the time of a literary 
examination, and distributed among the students 
seven hundred volumes. In 1832 he composed 
and printed nine Christian tracts, and baptized 
three of his countrymen. In 1833, a literary ex- 
amination at Canton brought students from a circuit 
of 100 miles, to whom Afa publicly presented 
Christian books, which they received with avidity. 1 
The same year Choo-tsing, who had been em- 
ployed in the College at Malacca, came to Can- 
ton, renounced idolatry, and after probation was 
baptized by Dr. Morrison, since which he had 
held a Christian service in his house, at which 
ten or twelve of his neighbours used to attend. 
At this time Afa wrote, " Several persons have 
obeyed the truth, and entered the church of the 
holy religion. There are upwards of ten of us, 
who, with one heart, serve the Lord, and learn the 
doctrines of the Gospel. Every Sabbath-day, we 



1 Medhurst, 273—275. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



201 



assemble together to praise the Saviour, for the 
mighty grace of redemption." 1 

In 1834, Afa, with one of his brethren, made a 
short tour in the interior to distribute books, which 
were generally well received. In the autumn of 
the same year he again distributed books among the 
literary candidates at Canton. It was just at the 
time of Lord Napier's affair, when the local go- 
vernment was exceedingly excited against the fo- 
reigners ; and all natives entering the factories 
were denounced as traitors. Afa's companions 
being arrested, Akae, though a heathen, refused to 
give information, and had forty blows on the face, 
which rendered him speechless. Chow Asan dis- 
closed every thing. Afa, however, with his wife 
and child, escaped to Macao. 2 But not being safe 
even there, he sent his wife, Le-she, to the interior, 
and himself fled to Singapore. Since then the 
persecution relaxing, he has visited his native vil- 
lage, and is now labouring at Malacca. Woo- 
Achang, one of his companions, having been set 
at liberty, has since been employed by the Ameri- 
can Missionaries at Singapore. Choo-tsing having 
been denounced as a traitor, has concealed himself. 
Keuh-Agang, who continues faithful, has fled to Ma- 
lacca. Leang Ateh, aged seventeen, son of Afa, is 
studying with Mr. Bridgman in Canton, but dare 
not leave the house for fear of being seized. Ahe, 



Aledhurst, 276— 279. 2 lb. 281. 

K 3 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



son of Agang, has been apprehended, and is still in 
prison. 1 

Thus there is much to encourage the friends of 
missions with respect to China. The government 
tolerates various forms of religion, and has in past 
times tolerated Christianity ; the people are eager 
to receive Christian books ; Mandarins are either 
unwilling or unable to prevent their distribution 
along the coast ; and by means of this coast cir- 
culation they may reach the most distant parts of 
the interior. Should these hopes be disappointed, 
and against the expectation of the most expe- 
rienced persons, the Government should display an 
unwonted and successful energy in preventing all 
missionary efforts on the main land, still thou- 
sands are annually forced by their wants into the 
adjacent countries, where they live under Chris- 
tian governments ; become familiar with European 
habits ; have access to European knowledge, and 
receive Christian books. Among these, Christian 
churches are beginning to exist; here native teachers 
may be trained, or Chinese books printed ; and here 
a missionary band may be formed, who may soon 
be found in every city and on every canal of the 
empire, conflicting with the atheism of the Con- 
fucian, crushing the idolatry of the Buddhist, and, 
unlike the Jesuit and the Franciscan the apos- 
tles of a spurious faith whose missionary fabric is 



1 Medhurst, 297—300, 302. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



203 



crumbling to the dust, about to extend through 
every province, that spiritual church of Christ 
against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. 

In China the people are willing to hear the 
Gospel, but the Government opposes, and the ques- 
tion we have examined is, whether, with the con- 
currence of the people, the opposition of the 
Government may be rendered nugatory. In India 
the Government, though i; does not use its own 
influence to propagate the truth, protects Chris- 
tians in their endeavours to propagate it. The 
whole difficulty in China is from the Govern- 
ment. In India the whole difficulty is from the 
people : and some have thought the obstacles arising 
from their prejudices so formidable, as to render 
all missionary efforts abortive. 

In a pamphlet lately published by Captain 
Westmacott, he has thus expressed himself on this 
subject: "It is not foreign to my present pur- 
pose to speak of the missionaries, because I think 
that not only are their labours thrown away, 
but verv prejudicial consequences follow in their 
train. It was stated in evidence by several ex- 
perienced civil and military officers of the India 
service, on their examination before Parliament 
on the renewal of the East India Company's char- 
ter, that they entertained a deliberate conviction 
that no converts to Christianity had been made 
among the natives of India, and that they doubted 
if any converts would ever be made. Various cir- 

k 4 



204 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



cumstances induce rue to hold the same opinion. 

Nine-tenths of those calling themselves 

Christians are notorious for vice and debauchery, 
or they are outcasts, having no religion, and glad 
to embrace any creed that holds out a prospect 
of pecuniary advantage. We must be aware that 
on forsaking their faith they are excluded from 
society, and deserted by their families and kindred, 
without even the poor recompense for their sacri- 
fices, of admission to the fellowship of Europeans. 
The character of the converts to Christianity is 
so morally vile, for they usually become drunkards, 
and acquire other European vices with none of their 
virtues, that this alone would deter a native gentle- 
man, who has a character to lose, from identifying 
himself with such a worthless set. Both Euro- 
peans and Asiatics shun them, and there is scarcely 
an instance of our countrymen having a native 
Christian in their employ." 1 

As the author intimates, these objections are not 
new. Mr. Montgomery Campbell, who had been 
private secretary to Sir Archibald Campbell, the 
Governor of Madras, in his place in the House of 
Commons, said, if reported by the newspapers cor- 
rectly, "It is true, missionaries have made prose- 
lytes of the pariahs ; but they were the lowest order 
of people, and had even degraded the religion they 
professed to embrace. Mr. Swartz, whose character 



1 Westmacott on India, 39, 40. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



205 



was held so deservedly high, could not have any rea- 
son to boast of the purity of his followers : they were 
proverbial for their profligacy. An instance oc- 
curred to his recollection, perfectly in point. He 
had been preaching for many hours to this caste 
of proselytes, on the heinousness of theft, and in 
the heat of his discourse had taken off his stock, 
when that and his gold buckle were stolen by one 
of his virtuous and enlightened congregation. In 
such a description of natives did the doctrine of 
the missionaries operate. Men of high caste would 
spurn at the idea of changing the religion of their 
ancestors." 1 There could scarcely be a higher 
authority than Mr. Campbell. For having been 
resident in the neighbourhood of the mission of 
which he spoke, and with such opportunities of 
knowledge, how could he err? or how could the 
House of Commons refuse to believe, on his au- 
thority, that the converts were all pariahs, noto- 
rious for theft and profligacy? To this statement 
however Mr. Swartz replied as follows : " About 
seventeen years ago, when I resided at Trichino- 
poly, I visited the congregation at Tanjore. In 
my road I arrived very early at a village inhabited 
by collaries (a set of people who are 'infamous for 
stealing ;)..... When I arrived at one of those 
villages, called Pudaloor, I took off my stock, 
putting it upon a sand-bank. Advancing a little, 
to look out for the man who carried my linen 



1 Pearson's Life of Swartz, ii. 288. 



206 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

clothes, I was regardless of the stock ; at which 
time some thievish boys took it away. When the 
inhabitants heard of the theft, they desired me 
to confine all those boys, and to punish them as 
severely as I pleased. But I refused to do that, 
not thinking that the trifle which I had lost was 
worth so much trouble. That such boys, whose 
fathers are professed thieves, should commit a 
theft, can be no matter of wonder. All the inha- 
bitants of that village were heathens ; not one 
Christian family was found therein. Many of our 
gentlemen, travelling through that village, have 
been robbed. The trifle of a buckle I did there- 
fore not lose by a Christian, as Mr. Montgomery 
Campbell will have it, but by heathen boys. 
Neither did I preach at that time. Mr. Campbell 
says that I preached two hours. I did not so much 
as converse with any man. This poor story, totally 
misrepresented, is alleged by Mr. M. Campbell 

to prove the profligacy of Christians 

Neither is it true, that the best part of those people 
who have been instructed, are pariahs. Had Mr. 
M. Campbell visited, even once, our church, he 
would have observed that more than two-thirds were 
of the higher caste ; and so it is at Tranquebar 
and Vepery. Our intention is not to boast: but 
this I may safely say, that many of those who have 
been instructed, have left this world with comfort, 
and with a well grounded hope of everlasting life. 
That some of those who have been instructed and 
baptized, have abused the benefit of instruction, 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS 



207 



is certain. But all sincere servants of God, nay, 
even the Apostles, have experienced this grief." 
After this answer, Mr. Campbell felt obliged to 
apologise. 1 

In 1823, the Abbe Dubois published his opi- 
nion on the matter in the following words: " It is 
my decided opinion, first, that under existing cir- 
cumstances there is no human possibility of con- 
verting the Hindoos to any sect of Christianity; 
and, secondly, that the translation of the Holy 
Scriptures circulated among them, so far from 
conducing to this end, will, on the contrary, in- 
crease the prejudices of the natives against the 
Christian religion, and prove, in many respects, 
detrimental to it." " If any one among the Pagans 
still shows a desire to turn Christian, it is ordi- 
narily among outcasts, or quite helpless persons, 
left without resources or connections in society, that 
they are to be found. They, generally speaking, 
ask for baptism from interested motives. Few, 
if any, of these new converts, would be found, who 
might be said to have embraced Christianity from 
conviction ; and I have every reason to apprehend, 
that as long as the usages and customs of the 
Hindoos continue unimpaired, it is perfect nonsense 
to think of making among them true and sincere 
proselytes." " For my part, I cannot boast of 
my successes in this holy career during a period 
of twenty-five years that I have laboured to pro- 
mote the interests of the Christian religion. The 
1 Pearson, ii. 289—291, 302. 



208 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



restraints and privations under which I have lived, 
by conforming myself to the usages of the countrv ; 
embracing, in many respects, the prejudices of the 
natives; living like them, and becoming almost 
a Hindoo myself; in short, by ' being made all 
things to all men, that I might by all means save 
some;' — all this has proved of no avail to me to 
make proselytes. During the long period I have 
lived in India, in the capacity of a missionary, 

I do not remember any one who may 

be said to have embraced Christianity from con- 
viction, and through quite disinterested motives." 
" I know that my brother missionaries in other 
parts of the country, although more active, and 
more zealous, perhaps, than myself, have not been 
more fortunate, either in the number or the quality 
of their proselytes." " In fact, the conversion of 
the Hindoos, under existing circumstances, is so 
hopeless a thing, and their prejudices against it are 
so deeply rooted, and so decidedly declared, that I 
am firmly persuaded, that if (what has never been the 
case) the Hindoo Brahmins were animated by a spirit 
of proselytism, and sent to European missionaries 
of their own faith, to propagate their monstrous 
religion, and make converts to the worship of 
Seeva and Yishnoo, they would have much more 
chance of success, among certain classes of societv, 
than we have to make among them true converts 
to the faith of Christ.'" 1 The Abbe had probably 

1 Letters on the State of Christianity in India, by the Abbe 
Dubois, 2, 73, 133—136. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



209 



good reasons for his opinion with reference to his 
own mission, and those conducted by his church 
on similar principles. The day is perhaps passed 
when the Hindoos would exchange one form of 
superstition for another. Nor do the Romish con- 
verts appear to have borne a very high character. 
Forbes, in his Oriental Memoirs, says of them, 
" The proselytes made by the Romish missionaries 
in the East, are generally among the lowest tribes 
of the Hindoos, or such whose misconduct having 
caused them to lose their caste, are glad to em- 
brace Christianity as a religion which is open to 
all." 1 Perhaps too the Abbe and his brethren were 
of the same opinion with a Roman Catholic mis- 
sionary in Syria, who, after spending thirty years 
in that country without learning the language, for 
that was not necessary either to repeat their mass 
or confer their baptismal regeneration, said to Mr. 
Fisk, of the English missionaries, " I perceive they 
do not know the character of the people in the 
Levant. One third of the money which they spend 
for books, if distributed secretly, would form a 
large party. Whereas, by distributing books, they 
effect nothing." 2 Of course the argument of rupees 
can be addressed only to profligate pariahs, and 
this method of instruction might justify all that 
the Abbe says about missions. 

Bat it does not follow that Protestant mission- 

1 Oriental Memoirs, by James Forbes, Esq. i. 85. 
* Fisk's Memoirs, 318, 319. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



aries, with the Bible and with the blessing of God, 
should not accomplish what the Roman Catholic 
missionary, without the Bible and without the 
blessing of God, could not. Although therefore 
Captain Westmacott is sustained in his view by 
a Romanist, who, " becoming almost a Hindoo," 
never used the Scriptures, and by a civilian, who 
without examination made assertions for which he 
felt obliged to apologise, we must well examine 
his views before we can possibly receive them. 
His objections to missions are so exactly similar 
to those of the Abbe, that we are tempted to be- 
lieve he has adopted them without examination; 
trusting to the observation of that gentleman rather 
than his own. No converts, he thinks, will ever 
be made by missionaries, except a few worthless 
pariahs, and that their labours are not only thrown 
away, but are absolutely mischievous. The latter 
question we may examine hereafter ; at present let 
us confine ourselves to this, whether it is impos- 
sible to make any respectable converts? 

In the first place, let us notice that Mr. Camp- 
bell, the earlier accuser, was totally wrong on 
this point, since two-thirds of the South India 
converts were of the higher castes. Now if con- 
verts were made then from the upper castes, why 
should they not be now ? And if Mr. Campbell 
so erred with respect to a body of native Christians 
so near him, how much more likely is Captain 
Westmacott to err, whose assertion extends to a 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 211 

large part of India which he has never visited? 
Of the value of the Abbe's testimony we may also 
judge by some of his other statements. " If we 
could for an instant lay aside our European eyes 
and European prejudices, and look at the Hindoos 
with some degree of impartiality, we should per- 
haps find that they are nearly our equals in all 
that is good, and our inferiors only in all that is 
bad. In my humble opinion, these people have 
reached the degree of civilization that is consistent 
with their climate, their wants, their natural dispo- 
sitions, and physical constitution ; and in fact, 
in education, in manners, in accomplishments, and 
in the discharge of social duties, I believe them 
superior to some European nations, and scarcely 

inferior to any In order to be convinced 

of the superiority of the manners of the common 
ranks among the Hindoos over those of the same 
description of persons among the Europeans, we 
only need attend to the conduct and habits of both 
in their mutual intercourse in society." 1 Those 
who can believe these statements may believe the 
former, and such perhaps will join with him too in 
adding, " I shall certainly never call on any lady, 
or other individual whatever, to engage him or 
her to squander away the money in contributing 
to the (in my humble opinion) absurd project of 
establishing schools for the purpose of enlightening 
the Hindoo females, or of circulating Bibles and 



1 Letters by the Abbe Dubois, 155, 156. 



212 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

tracts, which are perused by no one, and are above 
the comprehension of all." 1 But if it be absolutely, 
undeniably, extravagantly false that in education, 
manners, accomplishments, and in the discharge 
of social duties, they are scarcely inferior to any 
European nation, then his authority is worthless. 

Both therefore of Captain Westmacott's com- 
panions, in their opposition to missions in India, 
are in this matter unworthy of credit : and his 
own opinions are, by his own statement, formed 
on very partial observation ; since, besides being 
apparently a young man, and prepossessed with 
the idea of missionaries doing harm, he has also, 
as it seems, never visited Southern India, in which 
all the most successful missions are established. 2 
True or false therefore his views do not come to 
us well recommended. But if instead of being 
sanctioned by no authorities, they had the sanction 
of all the greatest names in India, facts, which are 
weightier than names, would prove them to be 
false. He says, indeed, that " various circum- 
stances" induce him to hold these opinions, but 
why has he not told us what those circumstances 
are ? His authorities being of no value, he should 
bring evidence. If his facts are not few, incon- 
clusive, and valueless, amounting to no evidence 
at all, fancies not facts, why not produce them ? 
We might then grapple with something more than 

1 Letters by the Abbe Dubois, 207. 208. 

2 Westmacott on the present and future Prospects of our Indian 
Empire, 43. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



213 



a shadow. Yet there is not much occasion to 
lament the want of them. For although their pro- 
duction would signally show the weakness of his 
case, yet even without their production our infor- 
mation enables us to assert that they have been 
totally misunderstood and misapplied. 

Till lately indeed the obstacles opposed to the 
Christian missionary in India were formidable. 
Each Hindoo was afraid of his gods, of his priest, 
of his family, and of society at large, should he 
listen to the Christian teacher. To renounce 
Hindooism was to lose caste, property, friends, 
and reputation ; to be an outcast from society, 
and to drag on a miserable existence in seclu- 
sion, shame, and poverty. But now the pro- 
gress of events is compelling the nation to re- 
nounce it. Up to 1835, the lack of rupees, ordered 
by the British Government at the renewal of the 
Company's charter in 1813, to be employed by 
the Indian Government, for the promotion of know- 
ledge in India, had been spent, as far as it was 
spent at all, chiefly in the support of Mahommedan 
and Brahminical colleges, in which students were 
paid to learn Mahommedan and Hindoo law in 
Arabic and Sanscrit ; and secondly, in procuring 
translations of European works in these two lan- 
guages. This, while it could never produce a na- 
tional literature, made Mahommedan and Hindoo 
bigots of all the young men educated at the ex- 
pense of Government ; but March 7th, 1835, the 
Governor in Council determined that it should be 



214 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



thenceforth employed to promote the education 
of the natives in the English and vernacular lan- 
guages. The results of this decision it is scarcely 
possible to foresee ; but it has already led to sur- 
prising changes. Twelve English schools were at 
once founded by Government, with English libra- 
ries attached, open to all subscribers. 1 The schools 
have since increased to forty, and as funds shall 
be forthcoming, they will be multiplied, till there 
is one for each Zillah in the presidencies of Bengal 
and Agra. In all of them caste is disregarded, 
and Christian, Hindoo, and Mahommedan scholars 
read in the same class, and are competitors for 
the same honours. The number of scholars is 
already six thousand. Formerly the Arabic and 
Sanscrit scholars were paid by the Government for 
receiving instruction; these English scholars pay 
something for it themselves. The very year in 
which they were opened, the applications made 
to Government for them were too numerous to 
be complied with ; rich natives have opened similar 
schools at their own expense ; and when Hooghley 
College was opened in 1836, twelve hundred boys 
and young men entered as English students in 
three days. And this was to be expected by all 
who knew the result of a previous experiment made 
by the Baptist missionaries. 2 

So early as 1816, they founded a normal school 

1 Trevelvan on the Education of the People of India, 16. 

2 lb. 19, 47, 81, 82. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



215 



at Serampore, in which teachers were trained for 
the surrounding villages. Immediately they re- 
ceived deputations from various villages, praying 
for schools. In some villages, houses were offered 
for schools, in some, temples were appropriated, 
and in others, school-houses were erected by na- 
tives, in the hope of having teachers sent. In 
these schools they taught geography, natural phi- 
losophy, history, and morals, but not Christian 
doctrine. Caste was overlooked, and yet not a 
single Brahmin boy ever left school on that account. 
They then proceeded to adopt such native schools 
as would receive books and allow inspection, and 
shortly had under their care one hundred schools, 
with eight thousand children, which had increased 
in J 824 to eleven thousand. In these schools too, 
which were supported by the parents, many chil- 
dren of the richer families were taught. 1 The 
effect of these schools must ere long be immense; 
for by the familiar knowledge of the English lan- 
guage, each student obtains access to our whole 
literature ; he can make himself acquainted with 
our religion, our laws, our modes of education, our 
charitable institutions, our commerce, our history, 
and our constitution ; he can master the sciences ; 
he can compare the progress of different nations. 
Quitting the lying legends of his Shasters, he is 
introduced to universal knowledge. With these 
advantages it is almost impossible that he should 



1 Brown, ii. 210—213, 215. 



216 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



long continue a subject of the Brahmins; the same 
Shasters which contain the system of his faith pro- 
mulgate also historical falsehoods, chronological 
blunders, and monstrous systems of geography and 
astronomy. When these falsehoods are brought 
out by a knowledge of European histories, and 
when this false science is subverted by a little real 
knowledge of the phenomena of the universe, the 
authority of the Shasters is gone, and with that all 
the idolatrous system which they sustain. An 
English education must therefore subvert the 
idolatry of India. Detected imposture may skulk 
for a while in the mud hovels of Indostan, or 
within the precincts of its pagodas, but in the 
streets of its cities and along its busy rivers, it must 
soon be scorned. Indeed this effect is already be- 
ginning to appear. One Hindoo forbade his son 
going to the Hindoo College, assigning as his 
reason, "that the students in the higher classics 
became nastiks," (unbelievers in Hindooism.) The 
Christian Editor of the Inquirer newspaper at Cal- 
cutta, educated at that college, testifies, " The 
Hindu College, under the patronage of Govern- 
ment, has, as indeed it must have, destroyed many 
a native's belief in Hinduism. How could a boy 
continue to worship the sun when he understood 
that this luminary was not a devatah, (a divinity,) 
but a mass of inanimate matter? How could he 
believe in the injunctions of such Shasters as taught 
him lessons contrary to the principles inculcated 
by his lecturer in natural philosophy ? The con- 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



217 



sequence was, that the castle of Hinduism was 
battered down. JVo missionary ever taught us, for 
instance, (meaning himself, the editor,) to forsake 
the religion of our fathers ; it was Government that 
did us this service.'' 

The Reformer, another English newspaper, con- 
ducted by a native editor, and the organ of a large 
and influential body of educated Hindus, con- 
trasting the fruits of ordinary missionary exertion 
with those realized by the Hindu College, thus pro- 
ceeds : " Has it (the Hindu College) not been the 
fountain of a new race of men amongst us? From 
that institution, as from the rock from whence 
the mighty Ganges takes its rise, a nation is flow- 
ing in upon this desert country, to replenish its 
withered fields with the living waters of know- 
ledge? Have all the efforts of the missionaries 
given a tithe of that shock to the superstitions of 
the people which has been given by the Hindu 
College ? This at once shows that the means they 
pursue to overturn the ancient reign of idolatry 
is not calculated to insure success, and ought to 
be abandoned for another which promises better 
success." 1 In fact, for ten years, the students of the 
Hindoo College have in numbers become perfect 

1 A New Era of English Language in India, by Dr. Duff, 
38, 39. It deserves the consideration of the different Mission- 
ary Societies at home, whether they have made sufficient ef- 
forts to give a thorough English education to the young native 
Christians under their care, which alone can raise an effective 
native ministry. 

L 



218 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



sceptics. In a debate on female education, among 
about forty of these youths at Calcutta, about seven 
years since, one speaker was rapturously applauded 
for using the following language : "Is it alleged 
by any that female education is prohibited, if not 
by the letter, at least by the spirit of some of our 
Shasters ? If so, and if any of the Shasters be 
really found to advance any thing so contrary to 
reason, I, for one, will trample them under my 
feet." 1 An English school for each Zillah, it is 
true, will comprehend but a small portion of the 
population, but the influence of that small portion 
will eventually pervade the mass. " In Bengal, 
owing to the indolent and intemperate habits, and 
consequent early deaths of many of the great Ze- 
mindars, minorities are frequent, and a large pro- 
portion of the landed property of the country falls 
under the management of the Government in the 
course of a few years." 2 All these minors will re- 
ceive an English education, by which means nearly 
the whole aristocracy will, ere long, be compelled, 
by the force of irresistible facts, to renounce the 
popular superstitions. But besides the Zemindars, 
three other classes will be formed by these schools. 
1st, The class from which the Government will 
select its own civil officers ; 2ndly, a number of 
literary men, who will become editors of news- 
papers, authors, tutors in families, &c. &c. ; and 

1 The Church of Scotland's India Missions, by Dr. Duff, 19. 
Vindication of Ditto, 6. 
3 Trevelyan, 26. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 219 

3rdly, a number of village schoolmasters. What 
must be the combined influence of these four 
classes, the wealthy, the powerful, the learned, 
and those who conduct the popular education of 
the country, all whose views, tastes, and habits of 
thought will be European? Did the mass of a 
nation ever yet resist such a combination? and if 
not, will India be the only country under heaven 
to exhibit that phenomenon? Besides these English 
schools, the Government is about to form primary 
schools, in which the vernacular languages will 
of course be used almost exclusively. For these 
the English schools will form enlightened school- 
masters ; for these the English students will write 
elementary translations of English books, or ori- 
ginate works adapted for children, in place of the 
polluting fictions of their superstition. Every en- 
lightened author will then have ample encourage- 
ment, because his works may be adopted for the 
Government schools, and thus obtain a large sale. 
And thus, while in the first place the upper classes 
will obtain an acquaintance with the Encyclopedia 
of knowledge through the English, they will diffuse 
that knowledge throughout the nation by the ver- 
nacular. An English education will compel the 
upper classes to renounce their idols, the ver- 
nacular education, based upon the former, will 
compel the mass to renounce them. The doom of 
Hindoo idolatry seems to have been pronounced 
that day, when the Governor-General resolved that 

l 2 



220 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



the public education of the upper classes should be 
English. But these schools, be it remembered, are 
not Christian. The Bible is not there. No book of 
Christian doctrine, no ecclesiastical history, no 
Christian biography, no work on the evidences, no 
book of practical devotion is to be found in these 
schools. The Government has feared, probably, lest 
by seeming to aim at the subversion of Hindooism, 
they might create such a prejudice against their 
schools as to hinder any scholars from attending. 
Bishop Heber seems to have inclined to that opi- 
nion, since he says, " All that seems necessary for 
the best effects to follow is, to let things take their 
course, to make the missionaries discreet, to keep 
the Government as it now is, strictly neuter, and 
to place our confidence in a general diffusion of 
knowledge, and in making ourselves really useful 
to the temporal as well as spiritual interests of the 
people among whom we live." 1 Thornton also 
says, " Another point, equally clear, is, that the 
neutrality of Government should be perfect. While, 
on the one hand, it should not force Christianity 
on the people, on the other, it should on no account 
evince any appearance of approbation towards 
idolatry." But while these writers think that in 
the Government schools there can be little directly 
religious instruction, they also believe that the 
Scriptures may be read like any other book, with- 

1 Bishop Heber's Journal, 2nd edit. iii. 253. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



221 



out the smallest danger of frightening* the people 
from the schools. 1 

Whether this fear be well founded or not, and 
whether it be right to act upon it or not, one thing- 
is certain, that in this way, the English students, 
though growing up in contempt of Brahminical 
delusions, can contract no respect for Divine truth. 
They may renounce Hindooism, but unless some 
other instruction is provided, it is only to be Deists. 
At the same time this education prepares the way 
for Christian instruction. Disabused of all their 
former prejudices, they are ready to examine the 
claims of the Gospel, and the more so because it 
is the religion of their teachers. That single cir- 
cumstance calls loudly for Christian missionaries. 
The Government will extend English education 
widely, but they believe themselves precluded from 
giving Christian education. What a field is thus 
opened for Christian missionaries ! The taste thus 
created among the millions of Hindostan must 
cause a demand for English schools beyond all that 
missionary societies can supply. English books and 
tracts are already received by thousands with eager- 
ness ; and the renunciation of Hindoo prejudices 
must soon make many others eager to know what 
Europeans believe. The relaxation of the ideas re- 
specting caste, will likewise make it much less fear- 
ful to educated natives of the higher castes to pro- 
fess Christianity ; and the general cultivation of the 

1 Thornton on the State and Prospects of India, 158, 163, 164 = 



222 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



minds of the gentry of India must make them 
much better able to appreciate the solidity of the 
evidences for the Gospel, and the superiority of its 
precepts. In fact, this improved feeling will ex- 
tend to all the vernacular Government schools as 
well as the English schools, because the masters 
will have received European education, and the 
books contain European knowledge. Hitherto a 
fear of the gods, of the Brahmins, and of society, 
with a corrupt affection for some of the debasing 
practices of their ritual, have been the chief ob- 
stacles to missionary effort. European knowledge 
will remove these fears, and by associating their 
idol worship with the ideas of Brahminical im- 
posture and national degradation, will turn that 
blind attachment into enlightened contempt. Under 
these circumstances it is easy to foresee that Chris- 
tian books and Christian teachers will be received 
with avidity. Indeed the popularity of the English 
schools shows, that even the minds of many are in- 
different to their superstitions. For the English 
books which they read contradict almost at every 
page the fables of their Shasters : were they there- 
fore much attached to that ancient lumber, they 
would no more examine writings which discredit 
it, than an Irish priest would study Fox's Mar- 
tyrology, or read the pages of Chillingworth. But 
their Shasters do not in fact oppose a moment's 
obstacle to their entrance into the schools. Though 
within the threshold of each school caste is wholly 
disregarded, and the Brahminical law is for- 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



223 



gotten, they crowd into them till the walls are too 
small to hold them, and ask new schools till the 
funds are inadequate to found them. 

In these schools however there is nothing taught 
which directly and avowedly impugns the doctrines 
of their faith. It would therefore be a still more 
complete proof of the disregard of many to ido- 
latry, if they would send their children to English 
schools in which they must read the Bible. But 
this is now common. 

In 1818 the Baptist missionaries instituted a 
college at Serampore, in which students are in- 
structed in the English language, European lite- 
rature, and the principles of Christianity. At the 
time of the last Keport there were eighty-one stu- 
dents. 1 

In the Baptist English school at Chilpoor, where, 
with European knowledge and the English lan- 
guage, the pupils received a decidedly Christian 
education, there were, till it was discontinued 
from the want of funds, nearly three hundred 
boys. 2 

In Benares, Bishop Heber visited a college 
founded by a Hindoo banker, in which the boys 
passed a good examination in English Grammar, 
Hume's History of England, Joyce's Scientific 
Dialogues, and the use of the globes ; while they 

1 Missionary Register, 1835, 141. 

2 Baptist Missionary Report, 1838, 11. 



224 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



also had learned the principal facts and precepts of 
the Gospel. 1 

In the Institution of the Church of Scotland in 
Calcutta, in which the evidences for the truth of 
Christianity and its doctrines are carefully stu- 
died, there were present at the public examination 
in November, 1834, four hundred boys. The 
number had increased by March, 1837, to seven 
hundred and twenty, and is at present about eight 
hundred. 2 

In the schools of the Church of Scotland at 
Bombay, under the superintendence of Dr. Wilson, 
now President of the Bombay Eoyal Asiatic So- 

1 Heber's Journal, iii. 360. Many of the boys present were 
of the middling class of society. Many were Brahmins, they 
read the New Testament, understood it well, the missionaries had 
never heard any objection to this part of their education, either 
from themselves or their parents, and one hundred and forty boys 
attend. Ibid. i. 370. 

2 Duff's India Mission, 25. India Mission. Extract of a 
letter from Rev. W. S Mackay, 1, 2. Church of Scotland's 
Foreign Missions, August, 1837, 2. Report to the General 
Assembly by the Committee for the Propagation of the Gospel, 
1838, 4. At the public examination of these boys in January, 
1838, many Hindoos of consideration attended; as all the chil- 
dren read the Bible daily, which is fully expounded to them, 
each of the classes was, on this occasion, examined in its history 
and doctrines. No disapprobation was expressed by the native 
gentlemen present. Since that time there have been twenty ap- 
plications for admission rejected for want of room, and various 
demands for teachers trained in the seminary have been sent from 
the distant provinces of India. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



225 



ciety, avowedly conducted on Christian principles, 
there are one thousand boys receiving Christian 
education. 1 

St. Andrew's School, at Madras, on the same 
plan, though recently formed, has one hundred and 
eighty boys, among whom the upper class of forty 
boys read the Bible each day with the missionary. 
All seem to enjoy the lesson, and they willingly pay 
a rupee each for their Bible. 2 In the Christian In- 
stitution at Calcutta, sixty-six youths, among whom 
are several Brahmins, are instructed in European 
science and literature, in Bengalee, and in the 
Scriptures. 3 

Bishop Corrie's school at Madras has twenty-four 
native students ; and a Madras journal says they 
could have ten times as many if they could be re- 
ceived. 4 

The Missionary English school at Vepery, near 
Madras, has many Mahommedan pupils. That 
at Trepassore has fifty-five scholars. That at Com- 
baconum has thirty boys. That at Burdwan has 
seventy boys in daily attendance who read the 
Scriptures and have them expounded, and the num- 
ber is increasing. 5 

1 Report to the General Assembly by the Committee for the 
Propagation, &c. 1838, 7. 

2 Report to the General Assembly, &c. 11. 

3 London Missionary Report, 1838, 39. 

4 Missionary Register, 1838, 142. 

5 London Missionary Report, 1838, 51, 52, 67. Church Mis- 
sionary Report, 1838, 52. 

L 3 



226 



PRACTICABILITY OP MISSIONS. 



At Madura the American missionaries have two 
English schools, with eighty-nine boys. J 

At Nassick also there is a thriving English se- 
minary. 2 And lastly, in the neighbourhood of 
Chinsurah, the natives have themselves established 
several English schools; and so far are they 
from being jealous of the introduction of Christian 
knowledge, that Mr. Mundy, the missionary, has 
repeatedly been invited to examine them, and he 
is convinced that if he had the leisure, he might 
take them all under his own management. 3 

The influence of these schools upon the pupils 
already begins to appear. Almost all the youths, 
in the upper classes of the Church of Scotland's 
Institution at Calcutta, are completely convinced 
of the truth of Christianity, and several of them 
have been baptized. Several youths in the Burd- 
wan school despise idols, and are convinced of the 
truth of Christianity. And in the Christian In- 
stitution at Calcutta all the resident scholars ac- 
knowledge the authority of the Bible, and some 
appear to be the subjects of the grace of God. 4 By 
such institutions therefore as these, our mission- 
aries may shortly raise up a body of native minis- 
ters, with European habits of application, and 
stored with European information ; accustomed to 
think and to compose both in their own language 

1 Missionary Register, 1838, 170. 

2 Church Missionary Report, 1838, 61. 

3 London Missionary Report, 1838, 42. 

4 lb. 39. Church Missionary Report, 1838, 52. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 227 

and in the English ; who will form the theological 
literature of India, who will convey the knowledge 
of Europe, by the vernacular dialects, into all its 
villages ; and far more effectually than foreigners, 
because, without a foreign accent or false gram- 
matical constructions, plain, fluent, and accurate, 
will preach the Gospel to their countrymen. But 
excluding the consideration of the future, let us 
notice what they prove of the present temper of 
the people of India. Though they teach truths in 
history, chronology, and science, altogether sub- 
versive of the Brahmin creed, although they com- 
municate the knowledge of the true religion which 
condemns every other, although the known effect 
of them is to lead the pupils in numbers to become 
Christians, still are they well attended, not by 
pariahs, but Brahmins ; not by the poor only, but 
by the rich ; their number and their popularity 
every year increasing. This does not prove that 
numbers love the Gospel; but it does prove that 
numbers are indifferent to Hindooism. It may be 
a desire of worldly advancement for their children, 
which makes them value these schools ; but what- 
ever be their motive, it triumphs over the love of 
their own superstitions ; and it shows their affec- 
tion for them to be so slight, their reverence so 
near contempt, as to make it clear that the Gospel 
may be very safely and very successfully intro- 
duced to their notice. Though the partial edu- 
cation given at the common missionary schools is 

l4 



228 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

not likely to produce upon the children the effect 
which a more careful English education might, 
heathen examples at home and the early removal 
of the children, with the small amount of know- 
ledge which can be imparted at so early an age, 
and in a short space of time, rendering them com- 
paratively inefficient, yet is it influential enough 
to demonstrate that those parents who send their 
children to these schools, are neither very jealous 
of Christianity, nor very earnest in their own re- 
ligion. And the numbers of such parents is great. 
More than two thousand children in Calcutta and 
the neighbourhood are receiving Christian edu- 
cation from the Baptist missionaries, and eight 
hundred from the London missionaries of the same 
place. The London missionaries of JNagercoil, in 
Southern India, have two thousand eight hundred 
children in sixty-one schools, under their care; 
and generally the London Missionary Society has' 
well attended schools in all its stations. 1 The 
American Board of Missions has one thousand two 
hundred and fourteen children at Madura, and five 
hundred at Madras. In the twelve stations of the 
Church Missionary Society in Northern India there 
are three thousand eight hundred and forty-four 
children. In Western India that Society instructs 
nine hundred and fifty-one children, and in 1833, 



1 Baptist Missionary Report, 1837, 10. London Missionary 
Report, 1838, 72. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 229 

the number taught by them in Southern India was 
seven thousand four hundred and eighty-three. 1 
In 1823, Bishop Heber wrote, "the number of 
children, both male and female, who are now re- 
ceiving a sort of Christian education, reading the 
New Testament, repeating the Lord's Prayer and 
Commandments, and all with the consent, or at 
least without the censure, of their parents or spi- 
ritual guides, have increased, during the last two 
years, to an amount which astonishes the old Euro- 
pean residents, who were used to tremble at the 
name of a missionary, and shrink from the common 
duties of Christianity, lest they should give offence 
to their heathen neighbours." 2 What would he 
have said had he lived to this time? 

With all the drawbacks to their usefulness, these 
schools are declared by the missionaries, after long 
experience, to do much good. Thus the mission- 
aries of Nagercoil report: "We have often ex- 
pressed our conviction of the importance of our 
mission schools : and growing experience of their 

utility has deepened this conviction Several 

of the most pious and useful among our native 
teachers, and in our congregations, trace the happy 
change they have experienced to the influence of 
those truths which they learned in the mission 
schools." 3 To see therefore thousands of children 

1 Missionary Register, 1838, 178. Thirty-fourth Church Mis- 
sionary Report, 50. 

2 Heber's Journal, iii. 253. 

3 London Missionary Report, 1838, 72. 



230 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



in every part of India attending these missionary 
schools, is a plain proof that in every part of India 
there are thousands of parents who are indifferent 
to Hindooism : indeed, it shows more than this, for 
since the Hindoo character is notoriously feeble, 
so many parents would not be found to send their 
children to the schools, unless the indifference to 
heathenism in the neighbourhoods in which the 
schools are placed were very general. 

But let us now look at the progress of the 
Gospel itself among the people. 

In the year 1706, Ziegenbalg was sent to Tran- 
quebar by the Danish Government. He translated 
the New Testament into Tamul, and then entered 
on the Old Testament, which was afterwards com- 
pleted by Schultze; and in the intervals which he 
could spare from his literary labours, taking with 
him a store of Christian books, and aided by native 
teachers, he made missionary tours through the 
country. These labours were abundantly blessed : 
in 1713, forty-seven persons were baptized; in 1714, 
twenty-eight; in 1715, twenty-four; in 1717, thirty- 
six ; and in 1718, fifty-eight more. 1 This success 
had not been obtained without opposition : " Les 
payens en general, ne voioient pas de bon ceil les 
progres de la mission evangelique. Lorsqu'ils pou- 
voient soupconner dans leurs parens ou dans leurs 
amis des dispositions a embrasser le Christianisme, 

1 Histoirede la Mission Danoise par Niecamp. Geneva, 1745. 
ii. 1, 78, 81, 83, 94, 101, 102, 127. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



231 



ils einployoient les promesses et les menaces pour 
les retener : nieine a l'egard de leurs inferieurs et 
des personnes de l'ordre du peuple, pour les 
d'etourner de ce dessein, ils commencoient par les 
caresses. Mais si ces moyens ne reussissoient pas, 
ils se servient de l'autorite et avoient recours a. la 
violence." 1 

In 1719, Ziegenbalg died, and was succeeded by 
Schultze, who prosecuted his plans with equal 
assiduity and success. 

The following Table may show the progress of 
the mission through several years, during which the 
account of the number of baptisms has come clown 
to us. 



Year. 


Number baptized 
in the Year. 


Authority. 
Niecamp. 


1719-^ 






,o L 


150 


ii. 135 


1724 J 






1725 


27 


146 


1726 


49 


154 


1727 


127 


180 


1728 


272 


211 


1729 


140 


233 



We are assured by Niecamp, that baptism was 
not administered lightly, either by Ziegenbalg or 

1 Histoire de la Mission Danoise par Niecamp. Geneva, 1745. 
ii. 81. 



232 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



Schnltze. ££ Si les missionaires evangeliques n'a- 
voient eu en vue que de grossir le nornbre des pro- 
selites Chretiens, sans beaucoup s'embarrasser de 
les instruire des verites du salut, et d'adniinistrer 
indifferemment et sans precautions le batenie a tous 
ceux qui se presentment, il est certain que le norn- 
bre en auroit ete beaucoup plus considerable. 5 ' 
" Quoiqu'il se presentat un plus grand nombre de 
Neophites qui demandoient le bateme, on n'ad- 
mettoit personne a cette sainte cerenionie sans une 
preparation convenable. II ay avoit que les per- 
sonnes mourantes a qui Ton administroit le bateme 
sans delai ; les autres pour etre incorpores dans 
FEglise Evangelique, devoient avoir de plus grandes 
connoissances et etre en etat de rendre raison de 
leur foi." 1 

After Scbultze, who left India in 1743, Svrartz 
laboured in the same spirit from 1780 to 1798. 
At Tranquebar, Trichinopoly, Tanjore, and other 
places, the general respect shown to him while 
living, and the splendid monuments erected to his 
memory by the Rajah of Tanjore, and by the East 
India Company, shovr how much his integritv. zeal, 
and disinterestedness, had been proved in his long 
career ; but the success which attended his labours 
were a better monument and better reward. 

Under his care the mission so grew, that in 
1775 there were the following numbers, both of 
teachers and converts. 2 

1 Niecamp, ii. 102, 181. 

2 Brown's History of the Propagation of Christianity, i. 192,193, 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 233 



Place. 




Native 


Scholars. 


Baptized 


Missionaries. 


Teachers. 


in 

the Year. 


Tranquebar . . 


6 


40 


355 


421 


^Madras .... 


2 


— 


40 


141 


Cuddalore . . . 


2 




64 


74 


Trichinopoly . . 


1 


9 


70 


206 


Calcutta .... 


2 




104 


67 


Total. . . . 


13 


49 


633 


909 



In 1802, Gericke, who had come to India in 
1766, and after the death of Swartz, chiefly directed 
the missions, visited the district of Tinnevelly, 
where native teachers had been labouring since 
1784. In some villages the idols had been broken, 
in others chapels had been built ; in many he was 
intreated to stay with them to instruct them : above 
thirteen hundred were baptized during his visit, 
and after his departure eighteen new congregations 
were formed, and two thousand seven hundred con- 
verts baptized. 1 Since that time the missions have 
declined, but in 1820 there were still about sixteen 
thousand native Christians on the coast of Coro- 
mandel, and up to that time there had been made, 
including baptized children, about fifty thousand 
converts. 2 

In order of time, next to the South India mis- 
sions, established by the Government of Denmark, 



1 Pearson's Life of Swartz, ii. 443. 2 Brown, i. 230, 231. 



234 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



and adopted by the Christian Knowledge Society, 
was that of the Baptists. It was founded in 1793 
by Carey and Thomas, who, finding the Indian 
Government jealous of their efforts, placed them- 
selves under the Danish Government at Serampore, 
and were afterwards joined by Ward, Marshman, 
and others. There for several years they experi- 
enced nothing but indifference or opposition from 
the natives, who when they preached used to laugh, 
shout out, and abuse them. Some educated per- 
sons they met professing disbelief in their Shasters, 
but none who would suffer trouble for Christ. At 
length, in 1801, Kristno, after enduring some per- 
secution, was baptized; after him a few others had 
the courage to follow his example. In 1809 they 
built a chapel at Calcutta, and established various 
printing stations in the city: they held meetings 
in the fort, attended the gaol, and had prayer- 
meetings in several private houses. After some 
time several native teachers began to preach. 1 But 
the converts were much tried. " In Calcutta, 
multitudes of the natives used to follow them 
through the streets, clapping their hands, and in- 
sulting them in every form. Some abused them 
as feringas, others for losing caste; some called 
them Yesoo Khreest, and bowing to them, said, 
e Salam Yesoo Khreest.' One day, when several 
of them were in a neighbouring town, the populace 
set upon them as feringas, as destroyers of caste, 

1 Brown, ii. 128, 129, 142, 147, 153. 192, 193. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 235 

as having eaten fowls, eggs, and other similar 
articles. On their attempting to return, the mob 
began to beat, and otherwise maltreat them; and 
a man, who was a civil officer, grazed the point 
of a spear against the body of one of them. Find- 
ing them bear all these insults with patience, they 
threw cow-clung, mixed in Gunga water, at them ; 
talked of making them a necklace of old shoes ; 
and threatened, that should they ever return, they 
would murder them. One of the converts, who 
resided in a distant village, was seized by the chief 
Bengalee man of the place, who bound his hands, 
and dragged him from his house, while the whole 
of the villagers hissed at him, threw dirt and cow- 
dung upon him, clogged his face, eyes, and ears 
with cow-dung, and in this state kept him tied 
up to the pillar of an idol temple for several hours. 
Besides these acts of violence, the converts suffered 
many other serious inconveniences from the enmity 
of their countrymen." 1 Some converts could ob- 
tain no lodgings, nor even ground to build on ; 
others were forsaken by their wives ; some were 
threatened by their relations ; and others were in- 
treated by them not to turn. 2 Still a few conti- 
nued to be added to the church. 

From their mission press at Serampore, besides 
several versions of the Bible which have been 
printed and circulated, hundreds of thousands of 
religious tracts have been scattered throughout the 



1 Brown, ii. 158. 



2 Ibid. ii. 158 — 162. 



236 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



empire, and up to 1819, six hundred natives, among 
whom were a number of Brahmins, had been bap- 
tized. About eight-ninths of the converts had 
continued stedfast in the faith, and fifty-one were 
employed as native teachers. 1 

That the more recent labours of the several mis- 
sionary societies now labouring in India have met 
with similar encouragement, may be seen from the 
following view of a few of their stations. 



1 Brown, ii. 229, 233. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



237 



i 


i 






E 

1 ! 


: :l : : : : : :S : :| : 




©on • . © • © o .©oe© • •©«© 
• •© .«o -oooco . .ggg 


i 
i 








:g = ss :S£ : : :§S3 

t r< — — 




::g::: S ::: ::: :::: :| 


. 






• Trow — o • — -* ™ ^ ^ ^ • J2 2 


1! 

- 




i 




! 


342 - 

in 




153 milis N. E. Madras 

Near Madras 

Near Madras 

Near Madras 

•2(10 miles N.W. Hillary .. 
300 miles N.W. Madras .. 

215 miles W. Madras 

90 miles S. E. Bangalore .. 
20 miles N. E. Tanjore .... 

90 miles S. W. Salem 

35 miles S E Cochin 

14 miles N. Cape Comorin . 


! 


1111 




Bill 




1 ill 
. ....... 




Baptist 

London Missionary.. 
London Missionary.. 
London Missionary.. 
London Missionary.. 
Gospel Propagation.. 
Gospel Propagation. . 
London Missionary.. 
London Missionary.. 
London Missionary.. 
London Missionary.. 
London Missionary.. 
London Missionary.. 
London Missionary.. 
Church Missionary . . 
CImrcli Missionary . . 
London Missionary.. 
London Missionary.. 
CImrcli Missionary . . 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



Thus in many of the stations of the different mis- 
sionary societies, there are a few native Christians, 
a few native communicants, and some native 
teachers, besides regular hearers not yet baptized : 
and these are in every part of Northern and South- 
ern India ; in cities and villages, where there is least 
of Brahminical influence, as in Tinnevelly, and 
where it is strongest, as at Benares; where there are 
many Europeans, as Calcutta, and where scarcely 
any, as in many village stations. Whence it appears 
that there are few places in India where there are not 
some who may be brought openly to confess Christ, 
But then since, according to Captain West- 
macott and the Roman Catholic Abbe, no Hin- 
doo gentleman would think of renouncing his 
religion, converts must be either wretched pariahs, 
who have no religion whatever; or else a worthless 
set of shoodras, actuated by worldly motives. That 
they cannot in general be swayed by worldly mo- 
tives is sufficiently plain from the following state- 
ments made by himself. " We must be aware, that 
on forsaking their faith they are excluded from 
society, and deserted by their families and kindred, 
without even the poor recompense for their sacri- 
fices, of admission to the fellowship of Europeans. 

Both Europeans and Asiatics shun them, 

and there is scarcely an instance of our country- 
men having a native Christian in their employ." 1 
Hitherto they have never been able to inherit land ; 



Westmacott, 40. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS, 



239 



they were never employed by Government; re- 
spectable men have been dismissed from situations 
solely because they became Christians ; the mission- 
aries were poor, and therefore could not bribe 
them ; the Europeans, like Captain Westmacott, 
disliked the missions, and therefore would not; 
where then was the probability that all should 
profess themselves to be converts from worldly 
ends ? If on the other hand many of the converts 
are poor, it was so from the first in the Christian 
church. The church at Jerusalem was poor ; the 
church at Philippi was poor; the Apostles were 
generally poor ; and Joseph and Mary were poor. 
In St. Paul's time, " not many rick, not many noble, 
not many mighty were called" Yet did the purity 
of the Gospel, the force of its evidences, and the 
excellency of those poor Christians, with the ac- 
companying energy of the Holy Spirit, so influence 
the civilized world, that philosophers, nobles, 
princes, and nations embraced their creed. Why 
should not the Gospel work upwards in India now 
as it did throughout the Roman Empire then? 
But if it be true in India, as well as every where 
else, that not many wise, mighty, and noble are 
called, because as our Lord said, " It is easier for a 
camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for 
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God," wealth 
so often presenting insuperable barriers of luxury, 
indolence, pride, and servility to fashion, against 
the reception of the truth, still, as elsewhere, some 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



persons of consideration have already embraced the 
truth. At Tranquebar, Tanjore, and Vepery, 1 as 
we have already seen, two-thirds of the converts 
were of the upper castes. Since that time, Brah- 
mins and other persons of consideration have been 
baptized. Among the converts of the Baptist mis- 
sions, there have been a number of Brahmins and 
others of the highest castes. 2 At Kammakal-choke, 
nine miles south of Calcutta, Ramjee, a land- 
owner, proprietor of an idol-temple, becoming a 
Christian, demolished the building, gave up the 
idol to Mr. Trawin, the missionary, and presented 
the materials of the old temple and a piece of 
ground for the erection of a Christian chapel. 3 At 
Benares, a pundit named Ram Peakras, though 
threatened with death by the other pundits, has 
openly spoken against the Hindoo Shasters, at- 
tends Christian worship, and is now living with 
the London missionary. 4 At Benares, Prabhee- 
da, a respectable Brahmin, has been baptized 
by Mr. Schiirmaun, and now preaches the Gos- 
pel to his countrymen. 5 JNarapoot, a Brahmin 
near Benares, with a property to the value of 
£24,000, having been converted, lost his property 
and situation by becoming a Christian; and for 

1 Brown, i. 230. 2 j b ^ 2 33. 

3 Statham, 409, 410; Voyages of Tyerman and Bennet, ii. 
389, 390. 

4 London Missionary Report, 1838, 46. 

5 Missionary Register, March, 1838, 159. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 241 

ten years laboured in conjunction with Mr. Gogerly, 
the London missionary, as a Christian preacher at 
Calcutta. 1 At Sibpoor, in 1837, a Kulin (Kooleen) 
Brahmin of very respectable connections was re- 
cently baptized by the Baptist missionary, Mr. 
George Pearce. 2 At Vizagapatam, a Brahmin and 
his wife were baptized in July, 1837, by Mr. Porter. 5 
Ramdhun, the catechist, at Kishnaghur, is a Brah- 
min of high caste. The Rev. Krishna Mohana Ba- 
nergee, of Calcutta, is of the highest order of the 
Kooleens, which is the highest of the Brahmin 
castes. At Truppoonitura, near Cochin, John Anan- 
than, a converted Brahmin, is now employed as a 
catechist. 4 At Kurnaul, Bishop Wilson, in his late 
visitation, ordained the Brahmin Anund Messeeh. 5 
When Dr. Duff left Calcutta, the General As- 
sembly's Institution contained five hundred youths, 
all of respectable caste, many of the very highest, 
and many belonging to the wealthiest families in 
Calcutta. Almost all the youths of the more ad- 
vanced classes in the institution are, as we have 
seen above, completely convinced of the truth of 
Christianity, and one, a Brahmin of high caste, 
and considerable talent, has proposed to become 

1 Speech of Mr. Gogerly at a Missionary Meeting. 

2 Baptist Missionary Report for 1838, 12. 

3 London Missionary Report for 1838, 53. 

4 Missionary Register, March, 1838, 155. 

5 Missionary Register, March, 1838, 153. 

M 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



a missionary. 3 And lastly, Constantine, son of the 
late Eajah of Cochin, now in the Grammar-school 
at Madras, has been admitted to the Lord's table 
by Mr. Tucker, and is studying for ordination. 

To these, other instances might be added, but 
they are enough to show, that Captain Westmacott 
must have formed his opinion very hastily, when 
he came to the conclusion, that no person can be 
converted in India, except the vilest outcasts of 
society. After these facts, testimony becomes al- 
most superfluous ; and yet nothing should be 
omitted which may tend to sweep away from the 
minds of the most sceptical the last remaining 
doubt whether the Gospel can be successfully 
preached in India. Mr. Addis, then the mission- 
ary of Coimbatoor, bears this testimony to the 
progress of Christianity in his neighbourhood. 
" When the mission was commenced, there were 
two native assistants employed ; the number is now 
increased to twelve, and the majority of these have 
been raised up at Coimbatoor. There is also a 
class of promising young men preparing for the 
work of native teachers. At the commencement 
no schoolmasters could be found who would teach 
Christian books, and for some time only one ven- 
tured to do so. Now there are twelve boys' schools 
established on decidedly Christian principles, in 

1 Church of Scotland's India Mission, by Duff, 26; Vindication 
of the same, 41. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



243 



an efficient state, and well attended ; and the ad- 
vantage of Christian instruction is openly acknow- 
ledged. The prejudices against female education 
were then so strong, that the mere mention of it 
produced offence ; but now we have a female board- 
ing-school on the mission premises, which only 
requires the necessary funds to be greatly increased 
in number : and a girls' day-school in a populous 
part of Coimbatoor has recently been commenced 
with a fair prospect of success. Tracts, which were, 
on our arrival, when distributed one day, frequently 
brought back through ignorance or fear the next, 
are now sought for by people from all parts : when 
it is known that a new supply has been received, 
great numbers eagerly apply for them, and scarcely 
a day passes without persons coming to the mission- 
house for tracts and portions of Scripture. The 
number of respectable people who have applied 
during the past year has been greater than at any 
previous time; and a single copy of the New Testa- 
ment has been joyfully received for the use of a 
whole village, the head man pledging his word 
for its careful preservation. In this respect preju- 
dice and timidity have surprisingly declined, and 
the distribution of books could now be carried to 
almost any extent." 1 Mr. Mundy says, " that every 
college and school in the country might be conducted 
on Christian principles, without any objection on the 



1 London Missionary Report for 1838, 69. 

M 2 



244 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



part of the natives." 1 Bishop Heber says, " It is, in 
fact, the want of means on the part of the teachers, 
and not any of that invincible repugnance so often 
supposed to exist on tbe part of the Hindoos, 
which, in my opinion, must make the progress 
of the Gospel slow in India. Those who think 
otherwise have, I suspect, either never really de- 
sired the improvement which they affect to regard 
as impossible, or, by raising their expectations, 
in the first instance, too high, have been the cause 

of their own disappointment We have 

found, in spite of these obstacles, that some Hindoos 
and Mussulmans of respectable rank, and consi- 
derable acquirements, (few, indeed, in number, 
but enough to show that the thing is not impos- 
sible,) have, from motives the most disinterested, 
(since nothing is to be got by turning Christian 
but the ill-will of their old friends, and, in most 
instances, hitherto, the suspicion and discounte- 
nance of their new rulers,) embraced and adhered 

to Christianity and I am convinced, from 

the success of the experiment, so far as it has yet 
been tried, that nothing but the want of means 
prevents the introduction of schools, like those 
now supported in the neighbourhood of Calcutta 
and at Burdwan, by the Society for promoting 
Christian Knowledge, and the Church Missionary 
Society, in every village of Bengal, not only with 
the concurrence, but with the gratitude of the 

1 London Missionary Report for 1838, 42. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 245 



natives." 1 After an extensive tour through North- 
ern India, for the purpose of inspecting the missions, 
Messrs. Tyerman and Bennet reported : " The 
expectations which we had raised, as to the effects 
actually produced by past missionary labours, have 
been greatly exceeded by what we have found, and 
the hopes and prospects of future success, under 
the blessing of God, are greatly confirmed and 
enlarged. Our confidence as to the conversion of 
the Hindoos has been much increased by what we 
have seen, both in Bengal and in the upper pro- 
vinces." 2 Mr. Tucker says : " God is opening 
ways on all sides for us to make known salvation 
in Christ to these our fellow-subjects, but none 
take pity! Pray let this fact, as I believe it to 
be, occupy your mind — that if Christian friends in 
England were true to their Master, the great bulk 
of the population would be in their hands, i. e. of 
the population of South India." 3 " The Friend 
of India," the conductors of which are well ac- 
quainted with Bengal, says, " Let a man have 
patience, diligence, liveliness, and affection, and 
he may be assured that before long the hearts of 
the people will yield to him as freely as if he 
had been born a Bengalee. And he may mingle 

with the people, too, as freely as he pleases 

Let him give up all superciliousness, and sedulously 
follow the law of kindness, and he will be a wel- 

1 Heber's Journal, iii. 283. 

2 Tyerman and Bennet, ii. 404. 

3 Missionary Register, March, 1838, 142, 143. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



come guest in almost every house or hut in the 
land." 1 And lastly, Bishop Wilson says: "India 
is waiting for the salvation of God. She is moving 
on gradually, but surely, towards that measure 
of illumination, when the absurd metaphysical ab- 
stractions and impure idolatries of Hindooism must 
fall, and, together with the intolerant fierceness 
of Mohammedanism, yield to the benevolence and 
grace of Christian truth Their own re- 
ligions, if they may be called such, they distrust— 
they neglect. The religion of Englishmen they 
are eager to learn, so far as the reading of our 
books extends." " The missions, also, are feeble, 
for want of a larger body of helpers. Schools and 
missions might be planted all over India, if we 
had an adequate number of devout and able inen."2 
If all this evidence and testimony fails to convince 
any one that the Christian missionary may find 
willing hearers in every class of society throughout 
all the provinces of British India, he must be a 
person of impracticable scepticism, whom demon- 
stration itself would leave in doubt. 

It is plain then that various circumstances com- 
bine to prepare India for the immediate and rapid 
diffusion of the Gospel. Heathenism there is a 
detected falsehood ; numbers have found it out 
already, and larger numbers shortly will ; it being 
as impossible for superstition to thrive under Euro- 

1 Friend of India, December 3, 1835, 387. 

2 Missionary Register, April, 1838, 180; Two Charges of the 
Bishop of Calcutta. Madras, 1835. 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 247 

pean science, as for an iceberg to grow at the line. 
The schoolmaster is abroad, and woe be to the 
pagodas, and the idols, to the bannered cars, and 
to all those who thrive by them. Their time is 
come. One hundred and twenty millions are dis- 
covering that Brahma is a fiction, and that the 
Brahmins are liars; that their Shasters are false, 
that their worship is disgraceful, their purification 
polluting, their hopes delusive, and their idol offer- 
ings folly ; that they have been cajoled, plundered, 
and trampled on ; and woe to those who shall try 
to cajole, and plunder, and trample on them again, 
More easily would the vile reptile that has crept 
into the dry bed of an Alpine river, repel the tor- 
rent now beneath the summer sun raging from the 
melting snow-peaks, than any faction can drive 
back to ignorance and falsehood, a nation's mind, 
first eagerly rushing on to discovered truth. 

But if the Hindoos renounce with shame the 
abominations of Krishna and of Kali, is it only 
to be atheistic? When was that the permanent 
condition of any instructed nation? In that mo- 
mentary fever of impiety which follows the de- 
tected baseness of sanctimonious despotism and 
cupidity, when priests without religion have feigned 
religion that they might monopolize power, and, 
for this their idol, have been the supporters of 
all abuses, and the enemies of all improvement, 
then, as in revolutionary France, for a moment 
a nation may plunge desperately into Atheism, 
because the only religion it has known has been 



248 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

hypocrisy. But that cannot last. The necessities, 
the sorrows, the conscience, the common sense of 
men forbid. And if this be true of a nation in 
which discovered fraud has been associated with 
a corruption of the true religion, it is much more 
so of a nation in which a false religion has been 
exposed by the teaching of the true. The very 
indignation with which their old delusions are 
rejected, must prompt them to welcome the evi- 
dences of that doctrine which is irreconcileably 
opposed to them. To scorn the worship of Oro 
and Hiro in Tahiti was to embrace the worship of 
Jehovah. And this is in human nature. At this 
moment, when the millions of India are about to 
cast away the senseless and deformed objects of 
their adoration, they must of necessity be the most 
prepared to listen to the revelation of God. 

Unless then human nature in India is opposed 
to human nature throughout the world, they are 
now preparing to hear the Gospel. Every English 
or vernacular school, public or private, irreligious 
or Christian, every library of European books, 
every medical college, all association with Euro- 
peans, all which teaches the people to think, or 
calls them to act, all which sharpens their under- 
standing, or gives strength to their character, is 
preparing the way for it. Government is doing 
it; merchants, military men, civilians, soldiers, 
missionaries, are doing it; every native teacher,' 
every instructed schoolmaster, and every enlight- 
ened native, converted or sceptical, is carrying for- 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



249 



ward the process. And what corner of the empire 
will be shut out from it? Even now, in the great 
heart of the empire, the Christians are gathering. 
On both sides of the Ganges, northwards as far 
as Delhi, westwards to Surat, and southwards to 
Tinnevelly and Travancore, are Christian churches 
forming, Christian schools collected, Christian na- 
tives labouring, and heathenism is beginning to 
yield. More men alone are wanted. More zealous, 
patient, prudent, charitable, self-denying men, to 
preach Christ through all the villages of India ; and 
such a harvest would repay their labours, as has never 
yet been gathered since the days of the Apostles. 

But it is not India alone which is ready to 
hear the Gospel. Its progress in India and 
China is a pledge that it can prevail in all the 
civilized countries of the heathen world; its pro- 
gress in New Zealand and Tahiti, that it can pros- 
per every where else. The character of the Gospel 
as a remedial dispensation for the world, the good- 
ness and power of God, whose tender mercies are 
over all his works, the latest command of Christ, 
with his promise to be with his servants in their 
work of love to the end of time, and the clear 
and multiplied predictions of the Word of God, 
prove that prayer and effort may plant Christianity 
in all the earth. But if those grounds of hope 
were to be overlooked, if we appealed to no pro- 
mise, and urged no command, the evidence which 
has been adduced puts the matter beyond all ques- 
tion. 

m 3 



250 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



To obtain that evidence we have examined the 
details of various missions. We might have added 
similar evidence respecting many other missions, 
and altogether they furnish irrefragable and un- 
deniable proof, proof which a child cannot fail 
to comprehend, and which all who can reason must 
admit to be conclusive, that the Gospel may be 
preached in a large part of the world. The ex- 
periment has been made for more than a century, 
and none can say that the effects are too novel 
to enable us to judge. It has been made in cir- 
cumstances the most opposite, in every latitude, 
and in all climates ; beneath the blaze of a tropical 
sun, and among the snows of the pole; where 
Christian Governments afforded protection, and 
where heathen rulers withheld it. It has been 
listened to by the most stupid, the most licentious, 
the most frivolous, and the most fierce ; by those 
wholly immersed in barbarism, and by those who 
have attained to much refinement. It has not been 
one particular form of church government, nor one 
particular method of operations which has pros- 
pered; but God has blessed Episcopalians and Pres- 
byterians, Independents, Baptists, and Methodists, 
men of all Protestant nations, and of various de- 
grees of education. English, Scotch, Americans, 
French, Germans, Swiss, and Dutch, all have 
afforded their contingent to the missionary body, 
and all have been blessed according to their faith 
and labour; that the whole Christian body might 
be called to allied action, that each might have 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 251 

a brotherly feeling for all the rest, and, above all, 
that it might be seen, it was not the peculiarities 
of one Christian denomination, but the essential 
truths of the Gospel taught by all, to which God 
gave his blessing. Can any one still doubt that 
blessing? He would doubt on, though, heaven 
and earth were together shouting out, " The king- 
doms of this world are become the kingdoms of our 
Lord and of his Christ :" he would doubt on 
though, the whole of society yielding to Divine 
influence, all men besides him were exulting in the 
knowledge of Christ ; and he were left among 
rejoicing millions the solitary alien from the family 
of God. 

Whatever perverse men may choose to believe 
against proof, it has been proved by evidence which 
no honest mind can resist, that New Zealand, and 
the Islands of the South Pacific, China to a great 
extent, and India throughout its provinces, are 
ready to hear the Gospel. As these are cultivated, 
new fields similarly circumstanced are sure to open, 
so that the whole world is preparing for the Chris- 
tian missionary. New Zealand wants more mis- 
sionaries than are sent ; the Islands of the South 
Pacific would receive hundreds ; numbers are still 
required for the West Indies ; and South Africa 
wants more. We might plant some in the Islands 
of the Indian Archipelago ; Siam would welcome 
them ; Formosa and Hainan would not repel them : 
many might usefully labour among Chinese colonists; 

m 4 



252 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 



some may evangelize the coast of the Continent ; 
and India is ready to receive thousands, if thou- 
sands could be sent. 

The Zoolus may still remorselessly murder their 
unoffending neighbours ; Madagascar may expel its 
missionaries, and murder the native Christians ; the 
people of New Guinea may be furious cannibals; 
the people of Borneo may torture their slaves; 
Sumatra may fatten its children for the butcher like 
hogs, and the islanders of the Archipelago may 
eat the cheeks and eyes of the strangers who 
fall into their hands ; still none of these are more 
ferocious than the New Zealander, or more de- 
graded than the Hottentot. And as India and 
China are open to missionary enterprize, so are 
Siam and Birmah, and so ere long will Cochin 
China and Japan be. Nothing then is wanting 
to carry the Gospel to those places, but the spirit 
of other days. 

Whether they shall be converted by the Gospel 
is another question, but that they will listen to 
it is proved beyond all doubt, by large and long 
experience. Persecution may in many places be 
threatened, in some it may be endured, but Chris- 
tian zeal might triumph over all. Hitherto the 
Gospel has generally been introduced at the per- 
sonal hazard of those who preached it. When 
St. Paul set out on his mission to Asia Minor and 
to Greece, he never asked whether he could preach 
safely, whether his property would be respected, 



PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 253 

his person uninjured, his liberty secure ; but, on 
the contrary, he determined to make Christ known 
to the heathen, though it should cost him property, 
freedom, and life. Endurance only hardened him 
in that blessed warfare ; so that after having suf- 
fered hardship, toil, penury, hatred, reproach, im- 
prisonment, and scourging, for the sake of the 
Gospel, he could say, " None of these things move 
me, neither count I my life dear unto myself so that 
I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, 
which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify 
the Gospel of the grace of God." All through the 
first century at least, the Gospel was preached by 
zealous missionaries in a similar spirit. They did 
not court affliction, for Christ had said, "If they 
persecute you in one city, flee ye into another ;" but 
rather than abandon their enterprize,they were ready 
to meet it. As the first evangelists when beaten 
with rods rejoiced that they were counted worthy to 
suffer shame, so in later periods the same hardy 
spirit has preceded great missionary success. Wick- 
liffe was constantly threatened with violence, and 
was prepared to endure it : Huss could not be 
faithful to the truth without yielding up his life : 
and the whole body of Reformers, both in this 
country and on the Continent, who recovered so 
many of their fellow-creatures from the fatal delu- 
sions of an apostate church, if they did not actually 
give up fortune, liberty, and life, were prepared 
to do so. Something of the same superiority to 



254 PRACTICABILITY OF MISSIONS. 

worldly interests and joys, there has been too in 
those who have been the pioneers of the host of 
missionaries in the South Seas. And this spirit 
is all that is wanted to carry the Gospel to the 
wildest savages, or the slaves of the most ruthless 
despotism through the whole world. 



CHAPTER IV. 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



" Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace : the 
mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into 
singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead 
of the briar shall come up the myrtle-tree : and it shall be 
to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not 
be cut off."-- -Isaiah lv. 12, 13. 



Since it is the declared will of God that the Gospel 
should be preached, since there is the most urgent 
need of it, and since it is perfectly practicable to 
introduce it to a large part of mankind, it follows 
that Christians in general are bound to aid in this 
work, whatever may be the issue. Could all past 
missionary efforts be proved to have been fruitless, 
still the faith and patience of the church ought to glo- 
rify God ; and it ought to fulfil its duty, with more 
prayer and more activity, till the blessing should 
come. But God has not put the faith and patience 



256 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



of his people to so severe a test. As they needed 
the support of some success, God has granted them 
enough in almost every case to make much effort a 
plain and positive duty ; in none, enough to sanction 
illiberality, or reward sloth. Wherever we look 
we find that success is nearly proportioned to faith- 
ful and patient exertion. The few exceptions to 
this rule, if any can be found, might probably be 
traced, either to a want of common prudence in 
the means employed, or to a want of dependence 
upon the Holy Spirit, and to a neglect of prayer 
for his help. Already the temporal and spiritual 
blessings which have followed missions are great 
enough to excite our gratitude to God, and they 
are leading on to greater. Every conversion be- 
comes the occasion of more ; every church affords 
the materials for forming new churches ; and in 
most missions the greatest difficulties being sur- 
mounted, we may believe, from all which we have 
hitherto seen of the government of God, that he is 
preparing much greater blessings for heathen na- 
tions, by that instrumentality which he has blessed 
already. Let us bear this in mind, while we sur- 
vey the temporal and spiritual results of missions 
to individuals, to nations, to churches, and to the 
world. 

Although the Gospel has been widely preached, 
the Bible widely circulated, and thousands, both 
in the most barbarous and the most civilized of the 
heathen countries, have embraced the profession 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



257 



of Christianity, have any been truly converted to 
God? If suffering and zealous labour for the 
truth, a consistent life, and a peaceful death, may 
attest the truth of an alleged conversion, then 
numbers have been converted. Or if the opinion 
of those excellent men who have taught them, 
baptized them, watched over them, prayed with 
them, and lived with them, may be taken, then 
numbers of them have been converted. Protestant 
missionaries are generally well aware that to bap- 
tize without a credible profession of faith in Christ, 
is to dishonour a sacred ordinance and to injure 
the church ; hence generally the number baptized 
may be taken to represent the numbers, believed by 
pious and intelligent men, who have opportunities 
of judging, to be sincere converts. The mission- 
aries are still more generally agreed that none 
should be admitted to the Lord's Supper who dis- 
honour their Christian profession by any incon- 
sistency : and as there is much discipline exercised 
in missionary churches, and those who openly sin 
are excommunicated, the number who are in ha- 
bitual communion may be safely taken, as less than 
the number actually converted to God, many who 
are really converted not yet being admitted to that 
privilege. The table in page 237 shows, that in 
twenty missionary stations in India, which, have 
recently transmitted accounts of their present state, 
there are nine hundred and thirty-one communi- 
cants. The numbers of those who are reported 
to be in communion with the church in various 



258 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



Reports of several different Societies, the lists being 
imperfect, are as follows : 

Communicants. 

India, at twenty missionary stations .... 921 1 
Ceylon, under English missionaries . . . 550 ( 

under American missionaries . . 330 S 880 

Friendly Islands 6,796 

Other South Sea Islands 2,095 

Sandwich Islands \ 049 

North American Indians, under Baptist American mis- ^ 
sionaries . . . 592 f 

under Moravian mission- 4 

aries . . .86^ 
West Indies, under the Baptist missionaries, Ja--\ 
maica .... 18,720 f 

■ under the Wesleyans . . 18,100 r 50 ' 790 

under the Moravians . . 13,970 J 

Greenland 800 

Labrador 360 

Birmah 839 

South Africa, under the Moravians . . . .1,176 

If we look at the whole returns from several 
Missionary Societies, we find them to be as follows : 

Church Missionary Society . . . 1,901 

London Missionary Society . . . 7,347 

American Board of Missions . . . 2,562 

Moravians 15,400 



The numbers under the pastoral care of the 
Gospel Propagation Society, the Baptist Societies 

1 In three other mission districts, Neyoor, Tinnevelly, and 
Tanjore, which do not state the number of communicants, there are 
286 native teachers. 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



259 



of England and America, and the Wesleyan So- 
ciety, not being given. 

It would lead us too far from our course to ex- 
amine in detail the character of these infant 
churches. But I may state of these communi- 
cants in general, that they are believed by their 
pastors to be real Christians, and their conduct is 
reported to be consistent with their profession. 
No other Europeans have had equal opportunities 
of watching them with those missionaries, and we 
have the strongest grounds for believing their tes- 
timony. Some of them I rejoice to number among 
my friends, and doubt not that the veracity of the 
rest is as unimpeachable as I believe theirs to be. 
But not to leave room for the partiality of friend- 
ship, and not even to allow that implicit confidence 
ought to be placed in the veracity of those who 
have conducted themselves for years as Christian 
men, let us only think of the impossibility, that the 
majority of them should, in this matter, deceive 
the Societies with which they are connected. They 
have been chosen with great care by persons who 
have no personal interests to serve, who have tried 
good sense, and many of whom are men of busi- 
ness or ministers of religion. They have been 
chosen from among many candidates, because 
thought to be the most pious. Many of them have 
been tried during a long theological and literary 
education; having first been recommended to the 
Society by their respective pastors as men of tried 
worth. Each account sent home is open to the 



260 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



inspection of the world ; and if false, may be re- 
futed by the Europeans of their neighbourhood. 
The several committees, though slow to entertain 
any accusation made against those whom they trust 
and honour, would still, for their own credit, for 
the welfare of their Societies, and for the promo- 
tion of the cause of Christ, be thankful to have 
any falsehood exposed, or any exaggeration repre- 
hended. Pious Europeans of different stations cor- 
respond with these committees ; travellers report to 
them of the condition of their missions; and in many 
cases one missionary may easily detect the exag- 
gerations of another. Hence then it is absolutely 
impossible that, in the majority of cases, these 
reports should be greatly exaggerated ; and if so, 
then are there some heathen in almost every place 
who are converted to God. Detailed accounts 
cannot here be given ; but one or two examples of 
genuine piety among the native converts shall be 
adduced, to show the amount of the moral change 
which we may believe to take place in many others, 
of whom no less than these, the missionaries re- 
port that they are tried and consistent Christians. 

Moses Tinda Tautamy, Brainerd's interpreter, 
had been a great drunkard, and was for some time 
very careless, after his acquaintance with that ex- 
cellent man. At length, however, it pleased God 
to change his heart, so that Brainerd could thus 
write respecting him: " He seems to have a very 
considerable experience of spiritual exercise, and 
discourses feelingly of the conflicts and consolations 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



261 



of a real Christian. His heart echoes to the soul- 
humbling doctrines of grace, and he never appears 
better pleased than when he hears of the absolute 
sovereignty of God, and the salvation of sinners in 
a way of mere grace. He has likewise of late 
had more satisfaction respecting his own state ; 
has been much enlivened and assisted in his work, 
so that he has been a great comfort to me. And 
upon a view and strict observation of his serious 
and savoury conversation, his Christian temper, 
and unblemished behaviour for so considerable a 
time, as well as his experience, I have given an 
account of, I think that I have reason to hope 
that he is 6 created anew in Christ Jesus to good 
works.' " 1 

At Crossweeksung, Xew Jersey, an old Indian 
conjurer, a murderer and drunkard, was brought 
under a sermon of Brainerd to cry for mercy to 
God with many tears. His distress of mind lasted 
for many months; but at last the moment came for 
his conversion, which is thus described by Mr. 
Brainerd : " He replied, ' it is done, it is done, 
it is all done now.' I asked him what he meant? 
He answered, ' I never can do any more to save 
myself; it is all done for ever, I can do no more.' 
I queried with him, whether he could not do a 
little more rather than go to hell. He replied, 4 my 
heart is dead, I can never help myself.' I asked 
him what he thought would become of him then ? 



1 Edwards' Works, in eight volumes, 1807, iii. 327. 



262 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



He answered, ' I must go to hell.' I asked him, 
if he thought it was right that God should send 
him to hell? He replied, ' it is right. The 
devil has been in me ever since I was born.' 
While he was in this frame, he sundry times asked 
me, < when I would preach again ?' and seemed 
desirous to hear the Word of God every day. I 
asked why he wanted to hear me preach, seeing 
' his heart was dead, and all was done ?' That 
' he could never help himself, and expected that he 
must go to hell ?' He replied, ' I love to hear 
you speak about Christ for all.' I added, 'but 
what good will that do you, if you must go to hell 
at last?' using now his own language with him, 
having before, from time to time, laboured in the 
best manner I could, to represent to him the ex- 
cellency of Christ, his all-sufficiency and willing- 
ness to save lost sinners, and persons just in his 
case, although to no purpose, as to yielding him 
any special comfort. He answered, ' 1 would have 
others come to Christ, if I must go to hell myself.' 
It was remarkable, that he seemed to have a great 
love to the people of God, and nothing affected 
him so much as the thoughts of being separated 
from them. This seemed to be a very dreadful 
part of the hell to which he thought himself doomed. 
It was likewise remarkable, that, in this season, 
he was most diligent in the use of all means for 
his soul's salvation ; although he had the clearest 
view of the insufficiency of means to afford him 
help ; and would frequently say, < that all he did 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



263 



signified nothing at all ;' and yet was never more 
constant in doing, attending secret and family 
prayer daily, and surprisingly diligent and atten- 
tive in hearing the Word of God ; so that he neither 
despaired of mercy, nor yet presumed to hope upon 
his own doings, but used means, because appointed 
of God in order to salvation ; and because he 
would wait upon God in his own way. After he 
had continued in this frame of mind more than 
a week, while I was discoursing publicly, he seemed 
to have a lively, soul-refreshing view of the ex- 
cellency of Christ, and the way of salvation by 
him, which melted him into tears, and filled him 
with admiration, comfort, satisfaction, and praise 
to God. Since then he has appeared to be a 
humble, devout, and affectionate Christian; serious 
and exemplary in his conversation and behaviour, 
frequently complaining of his barrenness, his want 
of spiritual warmth, life, and activity ; and yet 
frequently favoured with quickening and refreshing 
influences. And in all respects, so far as I am 
capable to judge, he bears the marks and charac- 
ters of one ' created anew in Christ Jesus to good 
works.' " 1 

Many of the Indians, among whom Brainerd 
laboured, manifested, no less than these two con- 
verts, the power of divine grace, so that any one 
who doubts whether God ever brings the heathen 
to be enlightened, humble, devout, and sober Chris- 



1 Edwards, iii. 331, 380, 405, 406. 



264 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



tians, has only to read Brainerd's journal, and his 
doubts will be swept away for ever. 

Africaner, a Namaqua chief, on the north bank 
of the Orange Eiver, of great intrepidity and con- 
siderable talent, became the terror of the north-west 
frontier of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, 
and of the country for three hundred miles around 
his kraal, by the boldness of his enterprizes, and the 
extent of his depredations. An enemy to the whites 
in general, he broke up one Christian settlement in 
his neighbourhood, and was thought to be medi- 
tating the destruction of all the rest, when he was 
visited at his kraal by a missionary, whose instruc- 
tions effected an entire revolution in his sentiments. 
Immediately he sent messengers to all the tribes 
with whom he had been at war, expressing his 
sorrow for the blood which he had shed, and de- 
claring his wish to be at peace. Under the minis- 
try of Mr. Moffat, he grew in knowledge and in 
grace. In the absence of the missionary he be- 
came the Christian teacher of his people, in which 
character he showed much diligence, humility, and 
zeal. On the Lord's-day he expounded the Scrip- 
tures to them, and in his whole conduct adorned 
his Christian profession. When Mr. Moffat was 
at Lattakoo, Africaner crossed the wilderness to 
convey to him his books, of which service he made 
no boast, and for which he would receive no re- 
compense, though the journey there and back oc- 
cupied three months. At Lattakoo he behaved 
with much Christian meekness and propriety. On 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 265 

his way homewards lie accompanied the traveller, 
Mr. Campbell, as far as Berends' Place, the kraal 
of Berends, a Griqua chief, with whom, twenty 
years before, he had fought for five successive days, 
on the banks of the Orange River. Both were now 
converted to God ; and implacable enemies having 
thus become Christian brethren, they worshipped 
under the same tent. Berends offered a prayer to 
God, and Africaner knelt by his side. After this 
he returned to resume the care of his people as their 
chief and teacher, in the discharge of which offices 
he continued faithful to his death. Before that 
event happened, he exhorted his people to live in 
peace, and to welcome the missionary who should 
be sent. After which he said, " I feel that I love 
God, and that he hath done much for me, of which 
I am totally unworthy. My former life is stained 
with blood, but Jesus Christ has pardoned me, and 
I am going to heaven. beware of falling into 
the same evils in which I have led you frequently : 
but seek God, and he will be found of you, to 
direct you." 1 From the period of his conversion 
to his death, not one drop of colonial blood was 
shed by any of the tribes on the Orange River; 
and so great was the sense which the Europeans 
entertained of the value of his services, that in 
1819, when he visited Cape Town, he was presented 
by the Government with a very handsome waggon. 2 



1 Philip's Researches in South Africa, ii. 224. 

2 lb. ii. 215, &c. and Campbell's Second Journey, ii. 237, &c. 

N 



266 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



It being determined at Huahine, one of the So- 
ciety Islands, to send some missionaries to the Mar- 
quesas, a ferocious and cannibal race, Auna, a 
converted chief, and Mattore, with their wives, 
were set apart for that purpose. Twelve hundred 
natives filled the chapel at the time when they were 
selected for this difficult service ; all approving the 
choice except Hautia, the Regent of the island, 
who was president of the meeting. At length, with 
some agitation, he rose and said, that if the mis- 
sionaries and the church of Huahine thought that 
he and his wife, Hautia Vahine, were fit com- 
panions to Auna, they would rejoice to go. The 
missionaries did not consent, because, besides his 
other important duties, he was then superintending 
the Christian schools in the island, and was ma- 
terially promoting industry and civilization among 
his subjects. But that with considerable private 
property and large revenues from his people, being 
in a place of dignity, and enjoying the esteem of a 
people, he should be willing to go as a despised 
Christian teacher among heathen cannibals, was an 
unusual proof of Christian zeal. 1 

Aberahama, of Eimeo, was marked out as a 
sacrifice to the gods, because he had become a 
Christian. As he fled from his pursuers, he was 
wounded by a musket-ball, which disabled him 
from any further flight ; but crawling among the 
bushes, he eluded the search of his enemies, crept 

1 Tyerman and Bennet, i. 353. 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



267 



at night to the house of a friend, and still lives 
to preach the Gospel to his countrymen. Another 
young man, of Tahiti, after being successively ridi- 
culed, caressed, and threatened, by his friends, to in- 
duce him to renounce the Gospel, was at length turned 
out of his father's house; and was afterwards selected 
as a sacrifice to the gods. One evening, having re- 
tired to a favourite place for meditation and prayer, 
he saw his murderers approaching, and instantly 
anticipated his fate. Unable to induce him to ac- 
company them to the marae, they murdered him 
on the spot, and then presented the body to their 
idol. 1 

A persecution having broken out in Madagascar, 
nearly all the missionaries left the island in June, 
1835, in consequence of an edict from the queen, 
strictly prohibiting the profession of Christianity; 
and the following year, the two missionaries who 
had remained were obliged to follow their brethren. 
Since that time, the Christians have suffered much 
from the rage of the heathen ; nearly a hundred 
having been sold into slavery, and others having 
been obliged to conceal themselves. Among 
these confessors and martyrs I may mention three. 
Eafaravavy being accused by some of her slaves 
of observing the Sabbath and of reading the 
Scriptures, was imprisoned, fined, and warned not 
again to trifle with the edict. On her liberation, 
she freely and fully forgave the slaves who had 

1 Ellis, i. 225. 

N 2 



268 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



brought her into trouble, affectionately prayed with 
them, and endeavoured to lead them to Christ; 
and since that time she has been obliged to flee for 
her life. Rosalarna, a young Christian woman, 
after being cruelly flogged on several successive 
days, was at length speared to death, August 14th, 
1837. As she was being conducted to the place 
of execution, instead of denying her faith, she 
preached Christ to the officers and to the crowd : 
no dread of suffering could subdue her courage ; 
and through the grace of God she met her end 
with a firmness and composure, which surprised 
her heathen executioners. One of the witnesses 
of her Christian constancy was Rafaralahy, a young 
man about twenty-five years of age, whose faith 
was strengthened by the sight, and who continued 
to assemble a few Christians for prayer at his 
house, about a mile and a half from the capital. 
For this offence, their place of meeting having been 
discovered, he was seized, and upon his refusal to 
betray his companions, he was sentenced to death. 
With a faith like that of Rosalarna, he spoke to 
the officers who conducted him to execution, of the 
happiness he felt at the thought of being so soon 
with Christ ; offered up a fervent prayer for his 
country ; and then laying himself down quietly be- 
fore his executioners, was speared. 1 

Of Leang-afa's piety, now tried for many years, 

1 History of Madacascar, by Ellis, ii. 494—534. Evangelical 
Magazine, Feb. 1839, 103, 104. Since that time, several other 
natives have been martyred. 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



269 



we may judge from the narrative in the preceding 
chapter. Enlightened views of the Gospel, with 
indefatigable activity in promoting it, a great 
change in his natural temper, much suffering for 
Christ's sake, followed by more zeal in the pro- 
motion of his cause, and a patient perseverance in 
well doing for many years of Christian profession, 
justify our belief that he is among Christ's true 
and devoted followers. 

Mohesh Chunder Ghose, who was preparing for 
ordination, and had for some time superintended 
the Church Missionary Schools at Calcutta, died in 
1837. The following are extracts from the funeral 
sermon, preached by the Rev. Krishna Mohana 
Banerjee, at the Old Church, Calcutta, and printed 
at the Bishop's College Press, shortly after his 
death : " Mohesh Chunder Ghose was born and 
bred up a heathen ; and, to all human appearance, 
destined to be a child of wrath." But God, who 
is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he 
he hath loved us, even when " our brother was 
" dead in tresspasses and sins, quickened" him 
" together with Christ." " In early life he was 
sent for his education into the Hindu College, with 
all the prejudices of Hinduism influencing his mind. 
But he did not continue long in this institution be- 
fore his understanding became too enlightened to 
submit to the monstrous dogmas of Brahminism." 
" From worshipping many gods, he ran to the 
opposite and more dangerous error of worshipping 
no god ; and thus he shook off the trammels of 



270 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



superstition and idolatry, merely to put on the 
still more galling chains of infidelity and atheism. 
Long did he in this state deny the existence even 
of the Supreme Being, and live literally £ without 
hope and without God in the world/ But the 
grace of the ever-merciful Jehovah prevented him. 
He was brought into circumstances, and called to 
form acquaintances, whereby he was led to examine 
the truths of natural and revealed religion." " The 
evidences of natural and revealed religion were 
too overwhelming not to produce some impressions 
upon his mind ; and a better opinion of the Gospel 
was undoubtedly generated within him ; but as to 
any feeling of the force of the truth he was quite 
a stranger to it, until, as I often heard him relate, 
he thought very seriously on the subject on one 
occasion, and began to examine narrowly the pro- 
fessions of sincere inquiry which he had all along 
been making. His conscience, he said, convicted 
him ; he found that there had been no sincere in- 
quiry on his part ; he became troubled at the idea ; 
and he prayed for divine forgiveness and direction. 
He asked and he received ; he sought and he 
found ; he knocked and the door of mercy was 
opened to him. I speak what I personally heard 
from his own lips." " It was then that all the 
arguments which he had been reading in favour of 
Christianity, and some of which he had been se- 
cretly trying to rebut, against the light of his con- 
science, struck him with irresistible force. ' A 
flood of light,' said he, ' rushed into my mind.' " 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



271 



" He believed how ' mercy and truth, had met 
together ;' how ' righteousness and peace had kissed 
each other ;' how God could ' be just, and the 
justifier of him that believeth in Christ.' " " Our 
departed brother was a living monument of this 
quickening power of the Gospel. Every one that 
knew him before his conversion will be able to 
testify what Hinduism and infidelity had done for 
him. The records of the Hindu College will show 
how turbulent and overbearing a student he was ; 
and how it was found necessary at last to turn him 
out from the institution. His intimate friends all 
know how haughty and insulting his conduct was 
very often discovered to be, and what a sad mix- 
ture of some of the worst passions of human 
nature was to be seen in him. But the truth made 
him free ; and the wolf was transformed into the 
lamb upon embracing Christianity. His fierceness 
was changed into humility, when he considered the 
wonders of the cross ; and his self-conceit into 
meekness, when he reflected upon his natural de- 
pravity. In fact, all his passions and affections 
were sanctified in a manner that was calculated to 
astonish those who had known him before. In- 
stead of the violent caviller, they found him the 
humble believer ; aud Mohesh Christian was a 
creature very different from Mohesh Pagan." 
" His conduct at Bishop's College was highly 
satisfactory to the authorities of the institution. 
His piety as a Christian, his diligence as a student, 
his attainments as a scholar, and his courtesy as 



272 EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 

a man, had rendered hini an object of love and 
regard to all around him; and I do not be- 
lieve there is any person on the establishment 
to whom his memory is not very dear and pre- 
cious." 1 

The history of Krishna himself has been very 
similar. At the Hindoo College he became an 
infidel, and he then edited an infidel English news- 
paper, called The Enquirer; but being brought to 
receive the truth by the lectures of Dr. Duff, he 
made his paper the medium for the defence and 
promulgation of Christianity. After this he su- 
perintended the Church Missionary School at Mir- 
zapore, and was at length ordained by the Bishop 
of Calcutta. 2 

There would be no . end to the instances which 
might be adduced of heathens brought to a saving- 
knowledge of Christ. If we may trust the accounts 
of those devoted men who have laboured to save 
their souls, then South Sea Islanders, and West 
Indian negroes, Greenlanders, Esquimaux, and 
North American Indians, liberated Africans of 
Sierra Leone, Hottentots and Caffres within the 
colony of the Cape, Griquas, Kamacquas and Be- 
chouanas beyond its frontier, natives of India, of 
Ceylon, and of Birmah, Malays and Chinese, 
Brahmins and despised pariahs, priests of Oro 

1 Sermon by the Rev. Krishna Mohana Banerjee, preached on 
Thursday, Oct. 12, 1837, at the Old Church, Calcutta, 15, 17, 18 
19, 21, 23» 

2 Church Missionary Record, Jan. 1839-. 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



273 



and abandoned areois, the most degraded of the 
heathen and the most bitter, have been so con- 
verted to God, that they have lived well, and died 
well; leaving to those who knew them best, the 
complete conviction that they had really loved the 
Lord, and that they had gone to be for ever in his 
presence. 

These few instances have been selected, not be- 
cause they are the most pious among all the con- 
verts, but because they happened to recur most im- 
mediately to memory. Hundreds might be added 
to the list whose lives have been equally distin- 
guished for Christian excellence. And if some 
have been thus brought to know and love the Lord, 
why should not many? Why doubt that among 
nine hundred communicants of twenty missionary 
stations in India, there are numbers of warm- 
hearted and consistent Christians ? For them then 
what have missions done ? They have been turned 
from darkness unto light, from the power of Satan 
unto God. Their lives have been made blameless 
and useful. They will have peace in death, and 
though they were perishing in their sins, they are 
now heirs of God ; and where Christ is, there will 
they be also, conformed to his image and partakers 
of his joy, But numbers of these are also now 
most usefully engaged in instructing others. Each 
native convert, from the hour of his own conversion 
to God, becomes the instrument of salvation to 
others. Hence small churches once formed in any 
heathen land, are observed rapidly to increase : 

n3 



274 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



the enlightened convert becomes the most effectual 
preacher to his countrymen, and numbers more in 
their turn become partakers of the blessings of the 
new covenant. 

Thus increasing numbers are continually added 
to the church of God. In the last year alone, 
the missionaries of one Society have been per- 
mitted to admit to the Lord's table nine hundred 
and thirty-two persons, many of whom it may be 
hoped are regenerate of the Holy Spirit ; and at the 
same time to add forty-four to the number of those 
converts who labour to evangelize their country- 
men : . and up to this time, that Society has formed 
ninety-three churches, with seven thousand three 
hundred and forty-seven communicants; employs 
four hundred and seventy-three native teachers, 
and has five hundred and sixty-eight schools, with 
thirty-six thousand nine hundred and seventy-four 
scholars. 1 Look then, to the consummation of 
these missionary labours, when that great multi- 
tude which no man can number, of all nations and 
kindreds, and people, and tongues, stand before 
the throne, with their robes washed white in the 
blood of the Lamb. Imagine the separate infinity 
of bliss to which each of these perfected spirits will 
then be admitted; conceive, if it be possible, with 
what adoration an innumerable throng will then 
bless God, that the Gospel reached their shores 
through the instrumentality of distant believers ; and 



Forty-fourth London Missionary Report, 126. 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



275 



let us consider whether it will not be a satisfactory 
thought that we acted and argued, and prayed, to 
bring about that consummation. 

If from the consideration of the heavenly and 
earthly blessings which God imparts to individuals 
by the preaching of the Gospel, we pass to a review 
of the blessings which it brings to nations as such, 
we find here fresh aliment for missionary zeal. 

The nations who have embraced Christianity, have 
derived from it inestimable civil and social advan- 
tages. The least advanced of the Christian nations, 
however degraded by superstition, is superior to the 
most advanced of the nations who reject it. South 
Italy and Portugal are superior in civilisation and 
morals to Egypt or to China. We may observe 
too, that civilisation and morals generally advance 
with the progress of the Gospel in each professedly 
Christian nation. The freest, the most enlightened, 
the most prosperous nations of the earth, Great 
Britain and the United States, are also the most 
religious. And this has not been accident. Our 
history and the history of the United States, may 
clearly show to any attentive reader how directly 
and how powerfully the intelligent and hearty re- 
ception of the Gospel, by numbers in these two 
countries, has influenced the character, laws, and 
institutions of these two nations. 

I. A nation which heartily receives the Gospel, 
must become intelligent, free, orderly, prosperous, 
and happy. 

1. The change which the Gospel, if heartily re- 

n 4 



276 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



ceived, would effect in the condition of nations, 
may be learned by the change which it has already 
effected in the condition of individuals. A few 
years since, David Taiwanga, of Kaikohi, near the 
Bay of Islands, in New Zealand, was a heathen 
savage, among heathen savages like himself. Now 
he has become a decided Christian, and, instead of 
the oven-like huts into which the natives creep, he 
has a good house with two apartments, one of 
which is of considerable size, and high enough for 
persons to stand in it upright. His farm of several 
acres, cultivated by the plough, yields good crops 
of wheat, potatoes, and coomeras ; his wheat is 
ground at the mill of the missionaries, and is made 
into good bread; he has a barn for his grain, 
possesses twenty head of cattle, and from the milk 
of seven milch cows makes eight pounds of butter 
every week, which he sells in the Bay. 1 What the 
Gospel has done for Taiwanga, it is doing more 
slowly for the natives generally at the Bay of 
Islands and on the Hokianga. 

2. In the year 1833, the temporal blessings which 
had followed the reception of the Gospel among 
the Griquas, in South Africa, were thus enume- 
rated by a warm-hearted and persevering friend of 
the native tribes, in the colony of the Cape. " The 
natives of the missionary station of Philippolis, 
who are Griquas, possess thirty-five thousand sheep, 
three thousand head of large cattle, and five hun- 

1 Evidence before the Lords, April, 1838, 189, 191, 297. 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



277 



dred horses. The two last Sabbaths which I spent 
there, the church, which can contain nearly five 
hundred persons, was quite full; the people were 
as well clothed as the members of any other con- 
gregation which I have seen in the colony ; and 
there were thirty-two family waggons at the door 
of the church. Ever since the establishment of the 
mission among the Griquas, this people has always 
been the bulwark of the colony on the north and 
north-west frontiers. There is not a single intelli- 
gent farmer who does not acknowledge that it 
would be impossible to sleep there a single night 
in peace, if the Griquas were not placed as they are 
to serve for a rampart between the colony and its 
enemies. Before the Griquas had embraced Chris- 
tianity, they were weak and defenceless as the Be- 
chouanas are still ; and so great is the difference at 
present between these two nations, that thirty thou- 
sand Bechouanas were obliged to have recourse to 
the Christian Chief of the Griquas, who cannot 
raise above two hundred horse, because they knew 
that without him they could not resist the nume- 
rous and ferocious troops of Mousselekatski. The 
country of the Griquas may be considered a Chris- 
tian country, just as much as the colony of the 
Cape. It is a new province, thanks to the mission- 
ary labours, added to the domain of Christianity 
At the commencement of the mission, they were 
as ignorant and as destitute as the Korannas, the 
Bushmen, and the Bechouanas, who surround 
them, and are now under their protection; and 



278 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



such is the condition in which the Christian faith 
and education have placed that handful of men, 
that they protect, at this time, nations five times 
more numerous than themselves; and have be- 
come, by their courage and discipline, an object of 
jealousy to the colonists, whom they nevertheless 
defend along the whole length of a frontier of three 
hundred miles. 1 

3. The Hottentots of the Cape are experiencing 
similar improvement. When Jantze Spielman, a 
Hottentot of Bethelsdorp, was asked by Major 
Colebrooke what the missionaries had done for 
them, he answered ; " when they came amongst us, 
we had no other clothes than filthy sheep skins, 
now we are dressed in English manufactures ; we 
had no written language, now we can read the 
Bible, or get it read for us ; we were without reli- 
gion, now we worship God with our families : then 
we had no idea of morality, now each is faithful to 
his own wife ; we were given up to profligacy and 
drunkenness, now industry and sobriety prevail 
among us ; we had no property, and now the Hot- 
tentots of Bethelsdorp have fifty waggons and a 
corresponding number of cattle ; lastly, we were 
exposed to be shot like wild beasts, but the mission- 
aries have placed themselves between us and the 
muskets of our enemies." 2 In 1825, the Hotten- 
tots had built a church and school-room. Many 

1 Letter of Dr. Philip in " Le Journal des Missions," 1834, 
117, &c. 

2 Journal des Missions, 1834, 118. 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



279 



had substantial, clean, and commodious houses, 
superior to those of the great body of the English 
settlers in the Cape. They had built for their poor 
the only almshouses in the colony. They had the 
best blacksmith's shop in the whole country; some 
of them were good masons, thatchers, sawyers, &c. ; 
they paid annually about two thousand rix-dollars 
direct taxes, and were consumers of British goods 
to the amount of twenty thousand rix-dollars per 
annum. 1 

4. The London Missionary Society has planted 
missions of this kind among the Caffres, Griquas, 
Bushmen, Bechouanas, and Xamacquas, beyond 
the frontier of the colony: and of these missions, in 
1828, Dr. Philip declares ; cc While the missionaries 
have been employed in locating the savages among 
whom they labour, teaching them industrious 
habits, creating a demand for British manufac- 
tures, and increasing their dependence on the 
colony, there is not a single instance of a tribe 
thus enjoying the labours of a missionary making 
war against the colonists, either to injure their per- 
sons or deprive them of their property 

W hile the Caffres, who command about one hun- 
dred and fifty miles of our frontier, only have been 
the scourge and terror of the colony of the Cape, 
those who have enjoyed the labours of missionaries 
are, without a single exception, friendly to its secu- 
rity and interests." 2 



1 Philip, i. 222, 223. 



2 lb. ii. 227. 



280 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



5. The Christian Islands of the South Seas, having 
now embraced Christianity, are following Great 
Britain and the United States, from whom they 
have received their spiritual blessings, in their 
course of national prosperity. Infanticide, poly- 
gamy, and human sacrifices are abolished ; there is 
much conjugal fidelity and much domestic peace ; 
their women are respected, their aged persons 
honoured, their children are trained in well ma- 
naged schools ; wars are far less frequent ; and they 
have equitable codes of civil and criminal law, 
derived from the jurisprudence of the most enlight- 
ened nations. Violent crimes are rare ; they are 
less indolent than formerly ; and they are begin- 
ning to cultivate those products of the soil which 
may multiply their own comforts and form a valu- 
able foreign trade. " Multitudes of them, who, a 
few years ago, were savages," said Mr. Williams 
to the Court of Common Council in London, " can 
now work at the carpenter's bench, at the smith's 
forge, and at various other trades. They have 
built a number of small vessels from twenty to fifty 
tons burden, with no other instruction than that 
which they have received from myself and my col- 
leagues. I have worked hundreds of hours and 
days at these various branches, for the sole purpose 
of setting the natives an example, and imparting 
instruction to them. They have also erected a 
great number of school-houses, and places of Chris- 
tian worship, which will hold from five hundred to 
two thousand or three thousand people. One of 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



281 



these is built of hewn larch, an octagon structure, 
with galleries all round it, and will accommodate 
two thousand people. This building would not dis- 
grace the first street in this great metropolis. In 
addition to this, we have taught the natives to turn 
the productions of their island to mercantile advan- 
tage. Arrow-root grew from time immemorial upon 
the fertile mountains of these islands ; but the in- 
habitants knew not, until taught by us, that it was 
a marketable article ; and in the two islands under 
my instruction, upwards of fifty tons were made 
and disposed of in one year. Sugar-cane was indi- 
genous ; but the natives knew nothing of the art 
of making sugar from it ; and I have now, my 
Lord, the pleasure of presenting the court with a 
specimen of sugar made by those very people, who 
have been civilized and taught habits of industry by 
the benign influence of Christianity. I think not 
less than one hundred tons were made there last 
year. I have constructed six or eight sugar-mills, 
with my own hands, for the inhabitants of the 
various islands I have visited." 1 

In these islands, with New Zealand, and wherever 
else the Gospel may prevail, what is there to hinder 
them from treading in the steps of Great Britain, 
till they too have their libraries and their colleges, 
their municipal institutions, their manufactures and 
their steam-engines, as they have now their trial 

1 Petition of Mr. Williams to the Common Council, March 
15, 1838, in the Morning Herald. 



282 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



by jury and their representative Government, their 
printing presses and their schools ? 

II. In some instances, the indirect effects of the 
reception of the Gospel on the temporal welfare of 
whole nations, would be most extensive. About 
seven hundred thousand negroes having been now 
liberated in the West Indies, in the plantations of 
Demerara and Berbice, and in other slave colonies, 
should these negroes, taught by the lash to abhor 
labour, refuse to cultivate the estates while they 
live, and scarcely able to forgive the whites for all 
the miseries which they have endured since their 
fathers were torn from their African homes, medi- 
tate revenge, then would the slave-holding states 
of the American Union relentlessly load their 
victims with a heavier chain ; France would refuse 
to let its bondsmen go free : and the slave trade 
between Africa and South America would continue 
with unabated atrocity. But if, through the influ- 
ence of the Gospel, the freed negroes of the West 
Indies should settle down into a peaceable, indus- 
trious, orderly, and thriving population, by whom 
estates would be better and more cheaply cultivated 
than those by slaves, if the act which rent their 
chains asunder, accompanied by Christian instruc- 
tion, should also increase the marketable value of 
all colonial property, then other nations could not 
long refuse to follow our example, by the emanci- 
pation of their slaves ; then the slave trade must 
cease, because no market would be left ; and thus, 
at length, Africa, too long impoverished, disturbed, 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS 



283 



and brutalized, by that felonious traffic, the source 
of endless wars, the barrier to all commerce, and 
the seal of a perpetual degradation, would at length, 
cultivate the arts of peace, seek a legitimate pros- 
perity, and welcome the English missionary with 
the English trader to its shores. Then, too, the 
interior would be open to every foreigner ; and thus 
the whole of Central Africa would at length be 
blessed, through the zeal which gives pastors and 
Bibles and Christian schools to the wronged and 
suffering negroes of our West Indian possessions. 

III. Should any one ask what advantage our own 
nation may derive from its missionary efforts, such 
a person may be reminded of that saying of our 
blessed Redeemer, " It is more blessed to give than 
to receive." If all the English money spent on 
missions were totally lost to England, the salvation 
of multitudes and the temporal blessings resulting 
to whole nations from the sacrifice, would abun- 
dantly reward it. But " there is that scattereth yet 
increaseth" jS"o portion of the national wealth is 
spent more directly for the advantage of the nation 
itself. The objection to contributions to foreign 
objects of benevolence, drawn from the wants of 
starving multitudes at home, though not yet wholly 
obsolete, scarcely merits a reply ; since a large part 
of the money thus spent is spent upon Englishmen, 
maintaining English printers, sailors, ship-builders, 
missionaries, merchants, and manufacturers, and is 
no more lost to England than that which trans- 
ports our enterprising settlers to North America, 



284 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



or New South Wales. But, in truth, the expendi- 
ture on missions has a much higher claim upon the 
consideration of the nation, than that derived from 
the fact that it is spent among ourselves ; since, in 
India, it tends to the consolidation of our empire, 
and every where else to the extension of our 
commerce. 

1. It has indeed been ignorantly imagined, and 
the imagination still unfortunately lingers in some 
minds, that the direct efforts to convert the natives 
of India endangers the British dominion there, and 
as lately as 1838, Captain Westmacott has said, 
" The truth is, that in our anxiety to force the 
Christian religion on the native population, we 
adopt that course of all others which is most likely 
to defeat our object, whilst at the same time we 
are undermining their institutions, by which alone 
we can call India our own." 1 Happily for our 
cause this author is as paradoxical in many other 
statements as in this. He eulogises the natural 
probity and honesty of Hindoos and Mahomme- 
dans, approves of the missionary habits of the Abbe 
Dubois, and thinks that our laws are demoralizing 
Hindostan : though we have wasted £10,000 a year 
in encouraging Arabic and Sanscrit learning, he 
laments that their literature has wanted encourage- 
ment, and wishes to have the native schools, in 
which no morals, no manners, no useful knowledge, 
no religion, nothing but heathen trash was ever 



1 Westmacott, 38. 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS, 



285 



taught, " restored to their former healthy and 
flourishing condition within our territories." 1 
In short, the general impression to be derived, 
if I misake not, from his book is, that British 
dominion in India has been a curse. The In- 
dian nations, trodden under foot by Mahomme- 
dan conquerors, whose sovereigns were unprin- 
cipled usurpers, whose history was a succession 
of bloody wars, whose lands were repeatedly laid 
desolate, whose cities were as often sacked, who 
were equally plundered by soldiers governors 
and priests, whose cumbrous literature was a 
boundless accumulation of false science false his- 
tory false morality and false religion, whose gods 
were fiends, whose worship was obscenity, whose 
religion taught them to treat their women as slaves 
to throw their children to the sharks to murder 
their sick to burn their widows alive and to drown 
themselves, who were crushed and hopeless slaves 
with little enjoyment less energy and no hope 
beyond the grave, are thought by an English 
officer, to have suffered loss by being placed under 
the dominion of Great Britain. I fear that in 
many instances they have been unrighteously go- 
verned. Public works are said to have been 
neglected ; taxation has been oppressive ; European 
functionaries used to be charged with making for- 
tunes far too rapidly ; the manners of our country- 
men are reported to be often contemptuous and 



Westmacott, 59. 



286 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



insulting towards the natives; and few direct efforts 
have been made till within the last few years for 
their improvement. But till the era of British 
sovereignty in India began, when did the Hindoos 
enjoy profound peace? When was a fixed portion 
at least of the fruits of their industry secured to 
them? When was law righteously administered 
between the subject and the sovereign, and be- 
tween man and man ? When was real knowledge 
ever placed within their reach? When did they 
take the first step towards liberty? All these bles- 
sings, whatever may be its faults, the British 
Government has secured to them; and the author 
who can think all this is worse than nothing, may 
probably err as egregiously when he further ima- 
gines that to teach them Christianity is to endanger 
our stability. If this were true, not one missionary 
should be withdrawn, not one shilling subtracted 
from the fund which is employed to give them the 
knowledge of the Gospel. We govern India for the 
sake of India. We have a high commission from 
God to raise it to our level, to make it the asso- 
ciate of our improvement, to communicate to it 
all our happiness : and woe be to those who, for 
the sake of securing our interests, shall sel- 
fishly crush theirs. India must be taught the 
Gospel and shall, whatever be the results. But 
these results are in this case, as the results of acting 
with generosity and Christian principle always are, 
most advantageous to ourselves. So far from en- 
dangering our Indian empire, they secure its sta- 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



287 



bility. A child almost might see this. Captain 
Westmacott knows, as every one does, that our 
empire in India has depended, not so much upon 
our army, as upon the feebleness of the native 
character, their want of military leaders, the aliena- 
tion between the Hindoos and Mahommedans, and 
the jealousy of the contiguous states. But all these 
are disappearing. Under the British Government, 
freedom of thought and strength of character are 
becoming more common daily. Mahommedans no 
longer dominant, and therefore no longer cruel 
and insulting, are less disliked ; and nations held 
under our common yoke forget their jealousies. 
What then can secure the British dominion, when 
millions ask the question, Why does a small foreign 
nation, with a different language, and different re- 
ligion, at the distance of twelve thousand miles, 
rule over us ? Why should we not assert our in- 
dependence? Were the whole empire heathen, 
what army would prevent these millions from an- 
swering, " We will assert it." That question will 
be asked : that reply will occur to millions : and 
the attempt may be made to expel us from their 
shores. But in such a crisis, those who have pro- 
fessed faith in Christ, having no prospect of ad- 
vancement, or even of security, under a heathen 
Government; of the same religion with ourselves, 
and objects of suspicion and hatred to the heathen, 
their persons marked out for death, and their 
property for confiscation, would zealously, for their 
country's sake and for their own, throw all the 



288 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



weight of their numbers property and courage 
into the scale of our dominion. If we add to this 
that many of these receive not a Christian education 
only, but also a European one, and will learn, 
by their acquaintance with our laws and institu- 
tions, to detest the unprincipled despotism of an 
Eastern Government, which crushes thought de- 
stroys industry and dooms a nation to perpetual 
degradation, we shall see that it is utterly impos- 
sible that they should ever unite with their country- 
men in erecting a heathen throne in that country 
upon the ruins of British sovereignty. Policy then, 
no less than duty to God and humanity to the 
Hindoos, demands that the Christian missionaries 
be left in unrestricted liberty to pursue their peace- 
ful and benevolent conflict with vice and idolatry 
throughout our Eastern empire ; and he contracts 
a most unenviable responsibility who should, in 
the slightest degree, retard their progress. The 
native Christians are ramparts round the British 
sovereignty in India, their numbers are our safe- 
guard, their power is our supremacy. 

2. In the next place, the influence which mission- 
aries have in extending our foreign commerce, not 
despicable now, is likely hereafter to be far more 
important. English vessels are traversing every 
sea, and stress of weather, or other causes, make 
it necessary that they should touch even on the 
most unfriendly coasts. In various instances this 
has proved fatal to them. The crew of the Boyd 
was killed and devoured on the coast of New Zea- 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



289 



land. The crew of the Charles Eaton was killed 
and devoured in Torres Straits. When the Alceste 
was wrecked in the Straits of Gaspar, it was plun- 
dered and burnt by the Malays, who assembled 
also in numbers to attack Captain Maxwell and 
his crew. In 1824, it was the intervention of a 
Methodist missionary alone which saved the pas- 
sengers and crew of the Endeavour schooner in 
Wangaroa Bay, New Zealand ; and on that coast, 
in 1835, the whaling brig Mercury was plundered, 
stripped of its sails and rigging, and left to drift 
upon the rocks. 1 But the difference in those 
islands which have come under missionary influ- 
ence is thus described by Mr. Williams: "From 
the period when the adventurous Maghellan, the 
discoverer of the Pacific Ocean, was massacred, 
intercourse with the uncivilized tribes has been 
attended with the most tragical consequences. Of 
this the most affecting proof is found in the fate of 
many former navigators, as well as in the distress- 
ing circumstances connected with Captain Frazer, 
of the Stirling Castle, Captain D'Oyley, of the 
Charles Eaton, the Corsair, the Oldham, and many 
other ships; but no British ship has ever been 
taken, nor one drop of British blood been shed 
at any island after its inhabitants have become 
Christians. From one hundred to one hundred 
and fifty sail of shipping touch annually at one or 
other of our mission stations, anchor with perfect 

1 Polack, ii. 173, 174. 

O 



290 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



security, procure fresh beef at two-pence per pound, 
and other provisions equally cheap to refit as in 
the ports of our own country. In case of ship- 
wreck our toil-worn countrymen, instead of being 
barbarously murdered, are treated with the greatest 
hospitality, and the property is all saved. Upwards 
of twenty sail of shipping touched last year at one 
of the islands discovered a few years ago by your 
petitioner. One of these ships was wrecked, but 
the crew was, by the gratuitous exertions of the 
converted natives, rescued from the grave; the 
stores and cargo were all preserved ; and when 
the captain fetched the preserved cargo away, after 
having expressed his gratitude to the missionaries 
for what had been done, assured them that he had 
not lost a single nail. This is the eighth or tenth 
vessel that has been wrecked at one or other of the 
missionary stations, and in every instance the crews 
and property of our countrymen have been pre- 
served. In the expedition upon which your peti- 
tioner is now embarking, he expects to spend five 
or seven years, by which time he hopes that British 
shipping will find refuge in the beautiful harbours 
of the islands he is about to visit, to which at 
present the ferocity of the natives opposes a barrier, 
and in the altered disposition of the people, our 
shipwrecked countrymen will then find an asylum 
instead of graves." 1 

1 Petition of Mr. Williams to the Common Council, March 15, 
1838, in the Morning Herald. 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



291 



It is further obvious, that when a vessel touches 
on any coast to obtain provisions or other commo- 
dities, its trade with the natives is directly advan- 
tageous to this country. In New Zealand, the 
provisions, spars, and flax taken by English and 
American trading vessels, are bought by English 
goods, by muskets and powder, by blankets and 
English cloths, by cutlery and all sorts of iron 
ware. Where ports are inaccessible, there is no 
trade: where the nations are heathen the trade 
is insignificant, because the natives have little 
that they wish to buy, and less which they can sell ; 
but when they become Christians, they imbibe new 
tastes, contract the wants of civilized life, and raise 
such commodities as may form an export trade 
to supply them. In this manner about a hundred 
thousand converted natives in the South Pacific, 
at the lowest computation, have already procured 
and are wearing articles of British manufacture. 1 
And the same effects have been shown to follow 
the preaching of the Gospel among the Hottentots 
of the Cape, and among all the tribes beyond the 
frontier to whom the Gospel has been carried. 

In India too, where European intercourse has 
been found to beget European tastes and a demand 
for European manufactures among the inhabitants 
of Calcutta and Madras, the same effect would be 
produced through the whole empire by that inter- 

1 Petition of Mr. Williams to the Common Council. 

o2 



292 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



course which would follow the reception of our 
faith. 

And, lastly, were the Chinese empire Christian- 
ized, there is every reason to believe that an exten- 
sive and diversified English trade would be carried 
on, much to the advantage of both countries, along 
its whole coast; because that reception of the 
Gospel would overwhelm the timid and jealous 
policy which now leads the Government to restrict 
all foreign trade to Canton. As an English trade 
with the sea-ports of the maritime provinces would 
certainly pioneer the way for the Gospel into these 
places, so their reception of the Gospel would as 
certainly introduce an English trade. On these 
accounts a just consideration of the future interests 
of the empire ought to lead commercial men, ca- 
pitalists, and legislators, to encourage Christian 
missionaries to the utmost. This was so distinctly 
seen by the Common Council of London, acting 
as a commercial body, that they voted £500 to 
Mr. Williams towards the expenses of a missionary 
voyage which he was about to make among the 
unexplored islands of the South Pacific. That sum 
was not voted by them for religious purposes, be- 
cause the fund which they administered was ap- 
plicable only to purposes connected with the inte- 
rests of the City of London; but it was voted to 
Mr. Williams, because they believed that those 
interests would be promoted by his undertaking. 
The consideration of this example may lead us to 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



293 



aid Christian missions with the greater pleasure, 
because while endeavouring to save souls, we are 
also serving our country. 

The consequences however which arise from 
Christian missions to our empire and our commerce, 
although important, occupy a very subordinate 
place among the effects which we have to antici- 
pate. We have considered the inestimable blessings 
which the Gospel brings to each individual convert; 
and we have seen the grounds fo^our assurance that 
a countless number will thus be blessed eventually : 
but we may now add, that the churches which 
engage in this work, derive reflectively their full 
share of advantage from it. 

Any spiritual improvement in any denomination 
of Christians is sure to lead to missionary exertion, 
because all those who are truly converted to God 
must wish to see others converted. Hence a reli- 
gious revival in any body is always followed by 
corresponding activity in doing good ; and the 
result is, that those Christian efforts, strength- 
ening the Christian principle, give a more vi- 
gorous character to the piety of those engaged 
in them. The discussion of the duty of doing good 
to others is in itself useful, because, through the 
corrupt influence of our natural selfishness, we are 
disposed too much to read, hear, act, and pray 
exclusively for our own salvation ; and are apt to 
forget that we are called to be the salt of the earth, 
and the light of the world. 1 Much zeal for the 

1 Matt. v. 13, 14. 



294 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



salvation of near relations and tried friends is rare ; 
and very few in their aspirations for the welfare 
of the church, seem to carry their charity much 
beyond the pale of their own denomination. It 
is useful therefore to be reminded that we are to 
live for others. Any one who, accustomed to limit 
his thoughts to the care of his own soul, learns 
that he is called to save others, and to bring as 
many as he can to the greatest possible piety and 
happiness, has already obtained an invaluable piece 
of information. From that time, if faithful to his 
light, he has a larger heart, he is a better man, 
and he lives a nobler life. At once therefore the 
admission of the duty of sending the Gospel to 
the heathen, improves those who were previously 
ignorant of it ; and once engaged in this duty 
they continue to derive fresh improvement from 
its fulfilment. It can scarcely be doubted, there- 
fore, that all the orthodox denominations of 
Great Britain have derived much advantage from 
the establishment of the missionary societies. Some 
of the ablest men have written in defence of mis- 
sions, and some of the best have travelled far to 
promote them. The writings of Hall, Fuller, Foster, 
Chalmers, Cunningham, Henry Martyn, and others, 
in defence of missions, have not been read in vain. 
And both the Established Churches of England 
and Scotland, with the Baptist, Congregational, 
and Methodist denominations, must have derived 
immense good from the sermons and addresses 
of such men as Pratt, Bickersteth, Haldane 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



295 



Stewart, Daniel Wilson, Duff, Fuller, Jay, Watson, 
and others, who carried to the different places 
which they visited, not merely a tale of missions, 
but high views of Christian character and of minis- 
terial responsibility, a spirit of prayer and a fulness 
of Christian doctrine, calculated to instruct all the 
younger ministers with whom they came into con- 
tact ; to send them back to their parishes and con- 
gregations, more earnest, humble, and devout, and 
to diffuse, by their instrumentality, a greater mea- 
sure of piety throughout the community. Mission- 
ary meetings too, though sometimes they have been 
the occasion of mutual flattery among the speakers, 
to the great offence of all right-minded men, and 
sometimes have been defaced by vulgar wit or 
frothy declamation, have enabled numbers to hear 
the great truths of the Gospel plainly enforced, 
who perhaps scarcely ever heard them elsewhere. 
Some have traced their conversion to these meet- 
ings ; many have been instructed and refreshed. 
The wisest and the most godly of each neighbour- 
hood have thus often gathered together to exhort 
and enlighten those to whom they had no other 
access. Neglectful pastors have there learned new 
views of truth and duty, and have gone home to be 
more diligent and prayerful than before. 

Nor must we undervalue the influence of mission- 
ary facts. Clergymen and ministers are often less 
informed on this subject than is right. Why should 
it be discreditable to know little of the political 
history of Great Britain or Europe, and at the 



296 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS* 



same time be proper to know almost nothing of 
the progress of the Gospel in the world ? Are the 
victories of the first consul in Italy, or the retreat 
of the emperor from Moscow, the revolution of 
England in 1688, or that of France in 1793, the 
American war of independence, or the progress 
of British power in India, things more worthy to 
be known by a Christian minister, than the conver- 
sion of the South Sea and the Sandwich Islanders 
to Christ, or the efforts to disseminate the Gospel 
among three hundred and fifty millions of Chinese? 
Yet educated men, who would be ashamed not to 
know those facts in political history, will rest in 
contented ignorance of these greater facts in reli- 
gious history. Now missionary meetings have called 
the attention of many to this subject: and mission- 
ary publications are doing much to diffuse that 
information through society, which may awaken 
Christians in general to associate with the friends 
of missions in prosecuting their holy enterprize. 

There is another way in which they are cal- 
culated to do us good. Our lot is cast in a day 
of strife. We should not be querulous, for our 
fathers have often fared much harder, and truth 
was browbeaten, and persecutors were triumphant, 
as they are not now : still we live amidst enough 
of conflict, with all those painful disclosures of 
human weakness and selfishness which usually ac- 
company it. Churchmen and Dissenters, the advo- 
cates of the voluntary system, and the champions 
of establishments, the friends and enemies of 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



297 



church rates, those who at Oxford have caught 
the spirit of Laud, and those who every where else 
cherish the spirit of the Reformers, Papists, and 
Protestants, High Churchmen and Low Church- 
men, Millenarians and Antimillenarians, those 
who would expel the Romanists from Parliament, 
and those who would keep them there, with a 
hundred other parties in fierce and interminable 
strife, all wield their weapons so near us that we 
are obliged to see the struggle and sometimes 
to share it. In this eternal chaos of opinion and 
shock of minds, hostile pamphlets fly around us 
as thick as wintry sleet, and no less impetuous. 
Engines of literary warfare burst at our feet, threat- 
ening us with their splinters ; infuriated orators 
close in stern encounter; and rival journalists cut 
at each other with a malice apparently as hearty 
as that of the Scotch chieftain, who, pinned to 
the earth by the spear of his enemy, mastered 
his agony, and cutting with his huge two-handed 
sword through the steel boot, nearly severed the 
leg of his conqueror, and expired. 1 Emerging from 
the midst of all this confusion, it is in the highest 
degree delightful to engage in the benevolent and 
peaceful labours of a missionary society. Here 
we may enter on a noble strife with sin and misery 
throughout the world; in this work the soul is 
quickened to prayer, and compelled to be com- 
passionate. This object is among the few things 



1 History of Scotland, by Sir Walter Scott, i. 230. 

o 3 



298 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



which mitigate the effects of party strife and politi- 
cal ambition. By turning away the attention from 
what is questionable, to what is certain, from what 
is little, to what is great, from what injures the 
spirit, to what elevates it, they tend to quicken 
each Christian principle and save each Christian 
from rapid declension. 

On the other hand, when Christians of diffe- 
rent denominations see the missionary labours, 
sacrifices, and triumphs with which they are all 
associated, they must learn to respect each other. 
An Episcopalian can scarcely read of the efforts 
of the London Missionary Society in the South 
Seas, in South Africa, and in India, without learn- 
ing to bless God for the grace given to their mis- 
sionaries ; nor can any devout Dissenter see what 
the Church Missionary Society is doing in New 
Zealand and in India, without acknowledging that 
God is with them also of a truth. Hence missions 
serve on the one hand to improve the temper of each 
denomination, and then compel each denomination 
to respect the other. Their efforts to found the 
kingdom of God, which is love and peace, in distant 
lands, bring peace and love among themselves. 

Among the other benefits which modern missions 
have conferred upon the church of Christ, are 
those examples of Christian worth to which they 
have given rise. Without missions, we should pro- 
bably never have possessed the memoirs of Brainerd, 
of Fisk, of Martyn, and Carey, of Mrs. Judson, 
Mrs. Newell, Mrs, Wilson, and Mrs. Winslow; 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



299 



records which serve to humble us, and at the same 
time, by making us see what the grace of God 
can do for us to animate us to exertion. What 
Christian, and still more, what minister, can read 
these narratives, and not rise from them with a 
determination, by the help of God, to serve him 
more diligently and with more self-denial than 
before? Many other missionaries also have given 
to the church examples of as much self-denial and 
devotion as these ; and if thousands of Christians 
have thus been led to lay aside some at least of 
their weight, and of the sins which easily beset 
them, and to run with more of patience the race 
set before them, it is no small blessing which misr 
sions have reflectively brought to the church. 

But we must not linger too long among these 
immediate and less important effects of missions. 
Their ultimate success, as we have seen from the 
Word of God, will be co-extensive with the globe. 
By their instrumentality, if we have rightly inter- 
preted the Scripture, God has determined that the 
kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms 
of Christ ; and that he shall draw all men to him . 
Let us contemplate then, with hope and joy, the 
last results to which all our efforts are tending. 
The ultimate triumph of missions will be the esta- 
blishment of the great principles of the Gospel, 
benevolence, justice, and truth, throughout the 
earth. Let us recall that truth in all our missionary 
efforts. Whether they be more or less successful 
now, whatever obstacles impede their progress, and 

o 4 



300 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



whatever apathy restricts their extent, Christ will 
be received, loved, and obeyed by men in general; 
and when men in general become his true disciples, 
they will be benevolent, just, and true. Before we 
go further, let us consider whether we hold this 
hope fast, because, like the disciples at Emmaus, 
we are slow of heart to believe all that the prophets 
have spoken. Whatever surpasses our experience, 
yre think to be therefore improbable ; and are apt to 
attach the idea of uncertainty to what is most 
clearly revealed. Before therefore we go further, 
let us ask ourselves, do we completely believe that 
Christ will draw all men to him? And do we 
see reason to conclude that this will be accom- 
plished by human agency? If not, let us review 
those passages carefully, ask why we doubt, and 
when we find no assignable reason, or none which 
has the least real force, then let us think and pray 
away the groundless scepticism, which represses 
alike both our hopes and our exertions. At all 
events, whether we believe and act, or disbelieve 
and remain inactive, the Gospel is thus to triumph 
through Christian zeal; and Christians will at 
length impart to the whole world that knowledge 
of Christ, through which the principles of bene- 
volence, justice, and truth, must every where 
prevail. 

But were these principles once truly to prevail, 
how large a portion of human evils would they 
remove. We are transgressors hastening to the 
tomb, and we live in a world which is every where 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



301 



scarred by the curse. Earthquake and tempest, 
the roar of the roused ocean, the pelting- of the 
wintry snow, volcanic eruptions, pestilential va- 
pours, and destructive floods, regions of arid sand, 
long droughts, the wide wasting plague, innume- 
rable diseases, and universal death, remind us that 
we are by nature children of wrath. But still how 
large a part of human ills is directly caused by our 
sins. Very many of our sufferings we do not in- 
herit from our first father, as the penalty necessarily 
and in all cases attached to his fall ; but we acquire 
them from our own habits as their natural con- 
sequences. Poverty, famine, disease, terror, strife, 
and premature death, are much more inflicted by 
ourselves, than by the necessity of our condition as 
men. And when the Gospel shall triumph in 
the world, they will all to a great degree be ba- 
nished. Subtract from human sorrows those which 
are caused by drunkenness, impurity, oppression, 
cruelty, injustice, covetousness, extravagance, idle- 
ness, fraud, and falsehood ; all those which come 
from ignorance, superstition, and intolerance ; and 
lastly, those which come from national wars, or 
the strife of individuals, and how many will remain? 
Poverty, sickness, insanity, domestic misery, and 
early death, come from these sources almost alone ; 
and were these vices banished from the earth, it 
would again be paradise. Then smiling plenty 
would fill many a hungry land. Constantinople 
and Rome would not then stand on the borders 
of fertile wastes ; the Egyptian Arab would not 



302 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



then be torn from his farm and his fields to gratify 
the ambition of an unprincipled despot; nations 
would not then be burdened with vast standing 
armies, and a costly gendarmerie; gaols and 
penitentiaries in ruins would be the only memorials 
of forgotten crimes; China would not then be 
retained in semi-barbarism by the fears of its 
rulers; nor would Japan shut its ports upon the 
world. Then the wrecked mariner would find on 
every coast a welcome instead of a grave ; and ves- 
sels no longer carrying the cargo of felons, or the 
machinery of war, might be all devoted to peaceful 
commerce, thereby making the improvements of 
any one nation the common property of all. Then 
civil factions too, born of selfishness and embit- 
tered by pride, would cease; and each nation at 
peace with all other nations, would be also at 
peace within itself. Then health and plenty, the 
benevolence of the rich, the contentment of the 
poor, the intelligence and godliness of all, would 
make this earth resemble heaven. And all this 
will be. God has promised, and he will do it. 
" For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is 
given ; and the government shall be upon his shoul- 
der: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Coun- 
seller, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, 
the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his 
government and peace there shall be no end, upon 
the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to 
order it, and to establish it with judgment and with 
justice from henceforth^ even for ever. The zeal of 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



303 



the Lord of hosts will perform this." 1 " He shall 
judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor 
with judgment. The mountains shall bring peace 
to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness. 
He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save 
the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces 
the oppressor." " For he shall deliver the needy 
when he crieth ; the poor also, and him that hath 
no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and 
shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem 
their soul from deceit and violence : and precious 
shall their blood be in his sight." 2 " In righteous- 
ness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far 
from oppression ; for thou shalt not fear : and from 
terror ; for it shall not come near thee." 2 ' " Vio- 
lence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting 
nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt 
call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise." 
" Thy people also shall be all righteous : they shall 
inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, 
the work of my hands, that I may be glorified." 4 ' 
" For as the earth bring eth forth her bud, and as 
the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to 
spring forth ; so the Lord God will cause righteous- 
ness and praise to spring forth before all the na- 
tions." 5 " And he shcdl judge among the nations, 
and shall rebuke many people : and they shall beat 
their swords into plowshares, and their spears into 

1 Isaiah ix. 6, 7. 2 Psalm lxxii. 2—4, 12—14. 

3 Isaiah liv. 14. 4 Isaiah lx, 18 ? 21. 

5 Isaiah lxi. 11. 



304 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



pruning-hooks : nation shall not lift up sword 
against nation, neither shall they learn war any 
more" 1 " They shall not hurt nor destroy in all 
my holy mountain; for the earth shall he full of the 
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
sea" 2 " For, behold, I create new heavens and 
a new earth : and the former shall not he remembered, 
nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice 
for ever in that which I create : for, behold, I 
create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 
And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my 
people : and the voice of weeping shall be no more 
heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall 
be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old 
man that hath not filled his days : for the child shall 
die an hundred years old; but the sinner being 
an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they 
shall build houses, and inhabit them : and they shall 
plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They 
shall not build, and another inhabit ; they shall not 
plant, and another eat : for as the days of a tree 
are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long 
enjoy the work of their hands." 3 " There shall be 
an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the 
mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Le- 
banon : and they of the city shall flourish like grass 
of the earth. His name shall endure for ever : his 
name shall be continued as long as the sun : and men 

1 Isaiah ii. 4. 2 Isaiah xi. 9. 

3 Isaiah lxv. 17 — 22. 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



305 



shall be blessed in him : all nations shall call him 
blessed'' 1 " He will swallow up death in victory ; 
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all 
faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take 
away from off all the earth : for the Lord hath 
spoken it." 2 " For ye shall go out with joy, and 
be led forth with peace : the mountains and the hills 
shall break forth before you into singing, and all 
the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Lnstead 
of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead 
of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree : and it 
shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting 
sign that shall not be cut off." 3 

Let those who recal with impassioned fondness 
the days of the bard and the baron, dream on of 
feudal fealty and chivalrous devotion to the altar 
and the throne. Thanks be to God, those days 
will not return. Then religion was hypocrisy in 
the teacher and superstition in the taught : then 
every church had its idols, and images took the 
place of God: then all learning was confined to 
the logomachy of the schools, and all theology to 
the legends of the cloister; the Bible was for- 
gotten ; the Gospel was unknown ; the pardon of 
sin was bought by money ; and the favour of God 
was sought in the persecution of his saints. Then 
the rich man was a despot, and the poor man a 
slave. The devotion of the vassals to their lord 

1 Psalm lxxii. 16, 17. 2 Isaiah xxv. 8. 

3 Isaiah lv. 12, 13. 



306 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



was an unprincipled readiness to trample on the 
rights and destroy the happiness of all against 
whom he chose to lead them. Then judges were 
bribed, juries browbeaten, and parliaments silenced 
or suspended. The monarch trod upon the necks 
of his subjects, and the priest upon the neck of the 
monarch. Then the business of life was war and 
its recreation drunkenness. There was no religion, 
no liberty, no literature and no refinement. Thanks 
be to God, those days will not return. We have 
now the Bible ; we possess a free constitution ; our 
institutions are strong; our literature is rich; and 
education is extending. Never were the founda- 
tions of our national prosperity laid so broad and 
deep. And from this point of happiness, to which 
the unmerited mercy of God has brought us, we 
look on to the fulfilment of his promises. Let 
others be wedded to the past ; we live in the past, 
the present, and the future. But while like the 
Utilitarian, we are eagerly anticipating the future, 
not like him are we speculating on the perfecti- 
bility of the race in the exclusion of religious influ- 
ences. Our present prosperity has been derived, 
not from philosophy but from religion. It is the 
Gospel which has won the battles of our liberty, 
which has given the nation a capacity to enjoy it, 
and which has made it safe and stable. By the 
Gospel therefore still must our own prosperity be 
completed, and that of less happy nations be se- 
cured. It is not the spirit of infidelity, but the 
book of God, which threatens the pagodas of China 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONS. 



and the mosques of Constantinople. It is no„ ^ 
sagacity of statesmen, but the doctrine of the cross, 
which must save the world. Before that, all forms 
of superstition, all modes of tyranny, all popular 
debasement must give way ; and more than the 
blessings of England will be the inheritance of the 
nations, because the nations will be the inheritance 
of Christ. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE MEANS POSSESSED BY GREAT BRITAIN FOR 
EXTENDING CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 



Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price : therefore 
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's/' 
1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. 



Let it now be borne in mind, that the heathen 
are perishing without the knowledge of Christ, that 
the truths known will, beyond all doubt, bring 
many to salvation, that we are under a strict in- 
junction from our Lord to make him known, that 
the promises of success are abundant, that the his- 
tory of missions proves them to be both practicable 
and effectual; and now let us see how large are 
those resources with which Great Britain has been 
intrusted for carrying on this work. The Gospel 
is to be the means of saving the millions of the 
heathen; how far has Great Britain the power of 
employing these means to save it ? 

1. With a Protestant population of more than 
seventeen millions in Great Britain alone, if we 
only sent the proportion which is sent by the Mora- 
vian body, of one in fifty, this would furnish three 
hundred and forty thousand missionaries for the 



MEANS FOR EXTENDING CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 309 



world. 1 This proportion having been sent by one 
small community, it might be sent by a larger. In 
fact, great as this number would be, the mere over- 
flowings of our population would soon furnish them. 
Every year the increase in the population of Great 
Britain alone, is about two hundred and forty-eight 
thousand. 2 Every year, also, about fifty thousand, 
including Irish, do actually quit our shores to seek 
a subsistence elsewhere ; and is it not a fact, that in 
every class of society there are numbers who can 
scarcely find employment? Parishes are still en- 
cumbered with unemployed poor ; unemployed arti- 
sans throng our cities ; unemployed clerks are 
starving in London and elsewhere ; in each of the 
learned professions, except the church, there are 
many young men with scarcely any practice ; and 

1 Population of Great Britain by the last Census, 1831 : 

England .... 13,091,005, M'Culloch's Statistics, i.405. 
Wales .... 806,182, lb. 
Scotland .... 2,365,114, lb. i. 426. 

Total in 1831 (exclu- 
sive of army and navy) 16,262,301. 
Annual increase, about 248,000, lb. i. 445. 
Increase from Dec. 
1831, to Jan. 1839 1,736,000. 

Total in Jan. 1839 "17,998,301. 

The Moravians in Europe and America, amount to about 
10,000, of whom 230, including women as well as men, are 
missionaries, and they have 50,637 converts under their care, of 
whom 15,400 are communicants. — Periodical Accounts, xiv. 356. 

2 M'Culloch, i. 445. 



310 



MEANS POSSESSED BY GREAT BRITAIN 



gentlemen ask themselves with increasing solici- 
tude what they are to do with their sons ? If then 
we should suppose that the body of three hundred 
and forty thousand missionaries were to be wholly 
renewed once in twenty years, which would demand 
seventeen thousand annually, that emigration would 
only be felt in this country as a relief. 

If, on the other hand, it be said that there are 
not seventeen thousand to be found annually with 
the requisite qualifications, what, I ask, must be the 
condition of above twenty-one thousand Christian 
congregations who cannot furnish one missionary 
each on an average annually ?i If this be indeed 
the humiliating truth, while we are boasting of our 
superiority to other nations, we may well change 
exultation into shame, penitence, and prayer. What 
are our ministers doing from Caithness to the 
Land's End, that the labours of above twenty-one 



1 The number of congregations in England, Scotland and Wales, 
is as follows : 

English Establishment 
Congregationalists . 
Baptists . 

Orthodox Presbyterians 
Methodists 
Scotch Church 
Scotch Dissenters 



11,825 
1,840 
1,350 
60 
4,239 
1,023 
745 



Total . . 21,082 



421 



See M'Culloch, ii. 396, 430. Conder's View of all Religions, 



JOR EXTENDING CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 311 

thousand of theni cannot train seventeen thousand 
missionaries annually for the whole world ? Are 
those ministers preaching the Gospel with the Holy 
Ghost sent down from heaven ? Are they instant 
in season and out of season, keeping back nothing 
that is profitable, examples to the flock, taking 
heed to themselves no less than to those that hear 
them, and labouring earnestly to present every man 
perfect in Christ Jesus? If Protestant England 
and Protestant Scotland can furnish so few mis- 
sionaries to the world from the want of fit men, 
what are the ministers of the Gospel doing? It 
was not so in the first days of Christianity, why is 
it now ? 

Even at this day the Moravian Brethren furnish 
pastors for a body of heathen converts, equal to five 
times their own number. 1 If Protestant Britain 
had done as much for the cause of Christ, eighty- 
five millions of heathen converts would now be 
under Christian discipline in Protestant missionary 
stations ; while from these stations the whole 
heathen world would be receiving instruction, since 
the proportion of missionaries to the heathen would 
be as three hundred and forty thousand to six hun- 
dred millions; that is, there would be one mis- 
sionary to every eighteen hundred of the heathen, 
and there would be numbers of native teachers 
besides. Should any one ask, where is the money 

1 The Moravian brethren amount to about 10,000, and the 
number of converts in all their missionary stations is 50,637. 



312 MEANS POSSESSED BY GREAT BRITAIN 

to come from? we may answer, where were the 
funds provided, by which the early Christians, who 
were almost without exception poor, carried the 
Gospel "into all the world," and preached it to 
"every creature under heaven?" Whence came 
the supplies for those missionary labours which 
within three centuries brought the civilized world 
to profess the Christian faith? What were the 
resources of the brethren of Herrnhut, which en- 
abled them, when only six hundred in number, and 
they poor exiles, to plant within ten years Christian 
missions in the West Indies, in North America, in 
Tartary, Greenland, &c. &c, in North Africa and 
West Africa, at the Cape of Good Hope, and in 
Ceylon? 1 They were rich in zeal, in faith, in 
courage, in love to God and to man ; and that made 
them give much of their little, and made their con- 
tributions, though small, support many labourers. 

With these examples before us, we may not talk 
of the want of money so much as the want of grace. 
If all the professed Christians of England had the 
zeal of their brethren in the first century, or of 
these in the eighteenth, seventeen thousand mis- 
sionaries might be sent annually among the heathen, 
because what others have done in their poverty, 
we might certainly do with unparalleled and enor- 
mous wealth. 

Various other facts may serve to show how 
greatly this country, were its population religious, 



1 Holmes' Preface. 3, 4. 



FOR EXTENDING CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 313 



might enlarge its missionary exertions. The total 
number of servants in Great Britain is seven 
hundred and eighty-three thousand seven hundred 
and thirteen ; and if we suppose that of these only 
one in twenty might be dispensed with, without 
materially abridging the comforts of their em- 
ployers, then might the repression of a little vanity 
furnish a fund for the missionary cause equal to the 
maintenance of thirty-nine thousand one hundred 
and eighty-five domestic servants ; or if we put the 
maintenance of a missionary artisan or catechist 
at four times the maintenance of a domestic servant, 
it would create a fund able to maintain nearly ten 
thousand missionaries among the heathen. 

2. Careless young men of fortune would do 
well to spend, in the prosecution of the best objects 
which can occupy the human mind, in the pro- 
motion of knowledge, order, liberty, morality, 
domestic happiness, and true religion among the 
heathen, what they now spend on the destruction 
of their principles and the degradation of their 
character. Crockford's gambling-house, with its 
furniture, cost not long since nearly £100,000; 
and the receipts of the proprietor, in one year, 
have been reckoned about £100,000.! Mr. Col- 
quhoun calculated some time since, that the money 
lost annually in all the gaming-houses of London 
was £7,225,000 ; 2 and at Crockford's alone, more 

1 The Great Metropolis, i. 160, 174. 

2 Treatise on the Police and Crimes of the Metropolis, 107. 

P 



314 MEANS POSSESSED BY GREAT BRITAIN 

recently, nearly £1,000,000 is said to have been 
lost in one night. 1 Supposing these statements to 
be true, the professedly Christian proprietor of a 
gambling-house can afford to spend in preparing 
his " hell," for those professed Christians who are 
to frequent it, enough to build about two hundred 
places of worship for the heathen converts. The 
receipts of that one proprietor in one year have 
been greater than the whole income of the Church 
Missionary Society in its most prosperous year ; 
while the whole sum which this vice of gambling 
costs to its miserable victims, would support an- 
nually, not one thousand ordained missionaries, 
which is above the whole number now employed 
by all Protestant nations, but above twenty-three 
thousand. The abandonment of other dissipated 
amusements might contribute largely to the instruc- 
tion of the world. One nobleman gives £300 per 
annum, which is more than enough to maintain a 
married missionary, for a single box at the Opera. 
The receipts of an Italian singer during one season 
have been £14,000, or more than enough to main- 
tain forty-six married missionaries. The receipts 
of the Opera House in 1821 were £31,248, whence 
it appears that the inhabitants of the metropolis 
spent, on one out of twenty-two London theatres, 
a sum which would have furnished one hundred 
evangelists to the heathen world. 2 What then did 
they waste on all the twenty-two? 



1 The Great Metropolis, i. 174. 



2 lb. ii. 31,41. 



FOR EXTENDING CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 315 



But what is spent in gaming-houses and theatres 
is trifling compared with what is spent on some 
other vices and follies. The use of spirits is well 
known to be detrimental to persons in health, 
affording no nutriment, noxious when used the 
most moderately, and when used to excess, fatal 
to mind and body. Cigars and snuff are also gene- 
rally worse than useless, yet such is the appetite 
for spirits and tobacco in this country, that the 
duties alone upon these articles, in 1834, amounted 
to £11, 614,829.! What then must be the whole 
cost to the British community ? Professor Edgar, 
in his evidence before a Committee of the House of 
Commons, on the subject of drunkenness, calculated 
the direct cost of ardent spirits alone to the people 
of Ireland to be £6,300,000 per annum, 2 and Mr. 
Buckingham reckons that, directly or indirectly, the 
vice of spirit-drinking costs the inhabitants of the 
United Kingdom annually, about £50,000,000. 
Whether this be correct or not, it is certainly within 
the truth to say, that the whole cost to the consumers 
of spirits and tobacco, is more than double the amount 

1 Duties on spirits and tobacco in 1834 : 

Foreign Spirits . . . £1,599,339 

Rum 1,505,138 

British Spirits .... 5,286,668 

Tobacco 3,223,684 

Total . . .£11,614,829 

M'Culloch, ii. 517. 

2 Parliamentary Evidence on Drunkenness. 8vo. 85. 

p 2 



316 MEANS POSSESSED BY GREAT BRITAIN 

of the duties levied upon theni ; and therefore 
more than £20,000,000 are annually paid by the 
inhabitants of this empire for these two noxious 
indulgences, by renouncing which alone they might 
afford a maintenance to about sixty thousand mis- 
sionary families among the heathen. 

Passing over the cost of other vices, let us next 
consider what the nation might have saved for pur- 
poses of domestic improvement, and the civiliza- 
tion, instruction, and salvation of the world, from 
some of its wars. It is generally, I believe, con- 
sidered now that this country ought not to have 
entered into the American war of independence, 
the causes being as inadequate as the results were 
disastrous. Many also think that if the war with 
France was necessary at all, it might have been 
at least postponed for many years; the aggressions 
of foreign nations mainly stirring up that military 
ardour which carried the eagles of the Revolution 
to every capital in Europe save one, and called 
up before the boundless ambition of Napoleon the 
visions of universal empire : that if England had 
not meddled at all, France and the other countries 
of Europe would at this moment have been nearly 
in their present condition ; or at least that England 
would have been left entirely unmolested. If there 
be any truth in this idea, then by abstaining from 
the first of these wars, we should have saved one 
hundred and twenty-one millions of national debt ; 
and by refusing to enter on the second, we should 



FOR EXTENDING CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 317 

have saved six hundred and one millions. 1 From 
the expenditure of the one hundred and twenty- 
one millions, in the first case, we gained defeat and 
shame, with the further consequence of the mutual 
exasperation of two nations, whose consanguinity 
and whose interests made them natural allies to one 
another ; and by the expenditure of six hundred 
and one millions, in the second, we were enabled 
to seat an illustrious family on the throne of their 
ancestors, to be almost instantly unseated, by their 
servility to the priests and their contempt of the 
Constitution. 

It is not my province to ask what effect the 
saving of these seven hundred and twenty-two mil- 
lions would have had upon our taxation, upon the 
wages of labour, upon the cheapness of our manu- 
factures, upon the extension of our commerce, 
upon the employment of our labourers, upon the 
price of corn, upon the question of the corn laws, 
and upon the economical prosperity of the nation, 
though that view of the waste may afford intense 
regret to a benevolent mind; but let us suppose 
that of this seven hundred and twenty-two millions 
so spent, six hundred millions had remained in the 
pockets of the nation, and one hundred millions 
had been spent by the owners on the education of 
the poor, the erection of churches, the multipli- 
cation of libraries, the formation of provident so- 
cieties, and the instruction of the world, half the 



1 M'Culloch, ii. 536. 



318 MEANS POSSESSED BY GREAT BRITAIN 

children of England would not now be without 
education, nor would four-fifths of the labouring 
class in the metropolis be still without pastors or 
public worship. Or let us imagine that the nation 
had spared, for the instruction of the world, only 
one-tenth part of what it has spent on these two 
wars, not indeed without injury, but certainly with- 
out ruin, then, leaving the interest on the debt 
out of the question, it would have contributed, 
since 1775, seventy millions to missions, that is 
much more than one million per annum; less 
therefore than one-tenth part of the efforts which 
we have made to hinder the independence of the 
American States, and to replace the Bourbons in 
the Tuilleries, would have maintained above three 
thousand European missionaries for the last sixty 
years among our fellow subjects in Hindostan and 
throughout the heathen world. 

The rental of Great Britain is about thirty mil- 
lions ; if therefore the land-owners gave only one 
per cent, of their incomes to missions, they would 
contribute to this object three hundred thousand 
pounds per annum, 1 and maintain more than a 
thousand missionary families among the heathen. 

The produce and property of every kind annually 
created in the United Kingdom is calculated by 
Pebrer to amount to £514,823,059. 2 If, of these 
five hundred millions annually raised, the people 



1 M'Culloch, i. 532. 

2 Pebrer on the Taxation of the British Empire, 328. 



FOR EXTENDING CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 319 

of this country only consecrated one per cent, to 
the evangelization of the world, they would an- 
nually contribute five millions to that object instead 
of £300,000. In other words, if the people of Great 
Britain and Ireland were to give a hundredth part 
of what the bounty of God bestows upon them 
every year, to evangelize the nations, they might 
maintain more than sixteen thousand European 
missionaries, who might instruct every nation on 
the face of the earth. 

Lastly, we have already seen that the population 
of Great Britain amounts now to eighteen millions 
of souls. Taking the Protestant Dissenters of 
England, according to Mr. Conder's statement, at 
three millions, and their direct missionary contri- 
butions at £150,000, they give at the rate of one 
shilling each per annum to the missionary cause . 
Did the rest of Great Britain do so, this would at 
once raise our missionary income from £250,000 
to £900,000, and the missionary body might at 
once be rendered four times as large as it is at 
present. These facts serve to show what little rea- 
son we have to glory in our zeal, when we hear that 
about £300,000 are annually contributed for the 
propagation of the Gospel throughout the world, 
This sum, as compared with the contributions of 
former times, ought to excite gratitude to God, 
who has put this degree of liberality into the hearts 
of his people ; but as compared with what the 
nation ought to give, and with what, if generally 
religious, it would give, it appears so lamentably 



320 MEANS POSSESSED BY GREAT BRITAIN 



small, as to afford matter for the deepest humilia- 
tion before God. A nation which could afford five 
millions for the missionary work, and which does 
in fact spend more than twenty millions on tobacco 
and spirits, can barely raise £300,000 for the pro- 
pagation of the Gospel throughout the world. 1 

1 If from the consideration of the means possessed by England 
we extend our view to the resources of Europe in general, it be- 
comes still more melancholy to consider the waste of property, 
which might, were there more of the spirit of true religion in 
Christendom, be devoted to the highest objects. Were the pro- 
fessed disciples of Christ his real disciples, international war and 
civil strife would be at an end. The standing armies of Europe 
are therefore the acknowledgment of Christendom that professed 
Christians know nothing of the spirit of the Gospel. The roar 
of musketry and cannon at their great reviews are like the growl 
of contiguous tigers, expressing even in repose a readiness to tear 
each other to pieces. To express this antichristian temper, four of 
the great nations of Europe maintain 2,000,000 of men in idleness. 
Russia alone has 1,000,000, Austria has 400,000, France has 
350,000, and Prussia 250,000.— Almanack de Gothafor 1839, in 
the Social Gazette of March 13, 1839. To show either, 1st, that 
the Governments are ready to crush their insurgent subjects, or 
2dly, that the nations are ready to wage a deadly conflict with 
their neighbours, these four Governments maintain, in time of 
profound peace, 2,000,000 of soldiers. Were these nations 
Christianlike, all these soldiers would be useless; and suppos- 
ing each man to cost on an average only £10 per annum, 
these four nations, by the abolition of their standing armies, 
might have twenty millions to consecrate annually to works of 
piety and of benevolence. If only the nations of Europe were a 
little more religious than they are, they might employ for the 
production of wealth two millions of men, whose hands are now 
useless, whose time is but half employed, whose minds run to 



FOR EXTENDING CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 321 



But these considerations, though well adapted to 
repress our national pride, and to awaken the con- 
sciences of those who are spending all their for- 
tune in self-indulgence, do not serve to show what 
may actually be done now to augment our mission- 
ary efforts, because they assume the Christian prin- 
ciple on the part of numbers, which is in fact 
wanting. They serve to show what the nalion 
ought to do, but not what the nation will do. 
Those who could help to save the heathen will not, 
because they do not seek even their own salvation. 
Ungodly themselves in the midst of religious light, 
it is not likely that they should make many efforts 
to rescue the heathen from ungodliness, who, on 
account of their ignorance, are so much less cri- 
minal than they are. 

Although therefore men are the stewards of the 
gifts of God, and must at the last day give account 
of the use they make of his property, they will 
continue to spend in revelling and banquetting, in 
gaming and profligacy, in luxury and ostentation, 
what they ought to consecrate to him. But among 
his own people, there is a sense of duty and a de- 
sire of doing good, which may possibly, from year 
to year, enlarge their contributions to good objects, 
both at home and abroad. Self-denial may form 
yet, as the Bishop of Chester once said, a vast 
fund for the cause of God. If the lovers of plea- 
waste, and who corrupt every neighbourhood in which they are 
quartered, while they would save twenty millions sterling for the 
highest purposes to which wealth can be devoted. 



322 



MEANS POSSESSED BY GREAT BRITAIN 



sure will give nothing, because they want to spend 
all that they can get, and the lovers of wealth will 
give nothing, because they want to save all that 
they can get, if the lovers of power will give 
nothing, because they are too busy with their po- 
litics to think of religion, and the lovers of dis- 
tinction will give nothing, because missions are un- 
fashionable, still the disciples of Christ may per- 
haps find that by more simple habits and more 
conscientious economy, they may save much for 
religious objects, which is now wasted. Eich wines, 
expensive delicacies, superfluous servants, unused 
carriages and horses, magnificent furniture, useless 
journeys, unnecessary visits to fashionable watering 
places, all the expenditure which is for ostentation^ 
and not for comfort, which tends to enervate, not 
to improve, may, as our religious light and grace 
increase, be all sacrificed to the love of doing good : 
and Christians may find, that without leaving their 
stations in society, they may, by a Christian-like 
moderation, of immense benefit to themselves, to 
their children, and to their whole circle of friends 
secure considerable funds for all the highest pur- 
poses to which wealth can be applied. 

Here it may occur to some, that the country could 
not bear this abstraction of its wealth. " Num- 
bers (as they think) would be thrown out of em- 
ployment, and much misery would ensue. Charity 
must begin at home, and we must not attempt 
universal schemes of benevolence, while we leave 
numbers to starve at our doors." The general 



FOR EXTENDING CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 323 

principle is true, but the application of it to mis- 
sions is false. 

For how is the missionary income of this country 
employed? Part is spent in the outfit of mission- 
aries, that is, in the purchase of British manufactures; 
part goes to their passage, which is spent on Bri- 
tish shipping ; part is spent in the printing of Bibles 
and tracts, which goes to maintain British paper- 
makers, printers, and bookbinders ; part is spent 
on those supplies of European commodities, shoes, 
clothes, furniture, and books, which missionaries 
yearly receive at their stations ; and the rest, 
which is spent among the heathen, is more than 
repaid by the European tastes which are thus 
created, and the trade with England, which in- 
variably follows. Should it be said that the various 
classes of shopkeepers and artisans who supply 
the luxuries of the rich must be maintained, and 
hence that Christians, by adopting simpler habits, 
would throw them out of employment, I answer, 
that they would bring almost an equal number into 
employment, and therefore would not really throw 
any out of employment, but would only change 
their occupations ; and they would serve the inte- 
rests of the community just as much by employing 
missionaries, schoolmasters, printers, bookbinders, 
cotton spinners, and manufacturers, as they would 
by enriching jewellers, supporting tragedians, or by 
keeping a useless number of grooms and footmen. 

If it be said that the money spent upon mission- 
aries is spent on unproductive consumers, and 

p4 



324 MEANS POSSESSED BY GREAT BRITAIN 

therefore withdraws from the nation all the wealth 
which would be created by an equal number of 
operatives; I answer, that actors and domestic 
servants, post-boys and ostlers, hotel keepers and 
waiters at fashionable watering-places, are also 
unproductive consumers, and therefore whatever 
is drawn from the theatre and the gambling-house, 
from useless journeys and from expensive esta- 
blishments, for the support of missionaries, is only- 
given to one unproductive class instead of to an- 
other. 

In the next place, we must remark that there are 
classes which, though not directly productive of 
wealth to the nation, do perhaps more than all the 
rest to enrich the nation both physically and 
morally. Wise legislators, acute lawyers, able 
physicians, well-principled authors, good school- 
masters, and pious ministers of Christ, do in reality 
contribute to the intelligence, health, morals, and 
religion of a nation, to the security of its property, 
to the stability of its freedom, and therefore even- 
tually to its actual wealth and prosperity, far more 
than they possibly could contribute by the labours 
of their hands : and the same is true of mission- 
aries. 

If, lastly, it be objected that all this missionary 
income is spent abroad, we must recollect that it 
relieves the community to a certain extent of its 
superfluous hands, just as emigration to Sydney 
or Upper Canada ; that it there maintains English- 
men who would have been maintained at home; 



FOR EXTENDING CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 325 

that much is spent in English manufactures ; 
and that the remainder is originating in many 
places a trade with England, which will be soon 
worth much more than the whole sum employed in 
the enterprize. Who reckons the money spent 
by British merchants at Smyrna or at Singapore, 
as money lost to their country, since in truth that 
expenditure is annually adding to our wealth? 
And just as the British trade at Smyrna and at 
Singapore more than repays the nation for what 
its merchants spend in these places, so the trade 
with the South Sea Islands, with New Zealand, and 
with the native tribes of South Africa, is beginning 
to repay to the nation the cost of those missions. 

Assuming then that we have enough of men and 
money most materially to extend our missions, we 
are further encouraged to extend them by other 
great advantages which we possess. Never was 
printing so cheap and expeditious as it is now : 
every year is steam lessening the distances between 
the nations of the earth : our commerce affords a 
safe and regular conveyance for missionaries to 
every part of the world : larger numbers continually 
are fitting for this work by education, which now 
descends to the poorest of the community, and to 
the necessity of which, among all classes, the nation 
is now for the first time awakening: the name 
of England is a safeguard to English travellers and 
settlers every where ; and almost every important 
place of trade in the world has a British Consul, who 
may employ the influence of the British Government 



326 MEANS POSSESSED BY GREAT BRITAIN 

to protect his fellow-subjects; so that in ordinary 
circumstances, Englishmen are as safe in Cairo, 
Constantinople, or Canton, as they would be in Lon- 
don. To this let us add the influence which Eng- 
lishmen possess among the heathen, by that supe- 
riority in the arts of civilized life, which often attracts 
their attention to the Christian teacher, no less 
than miracles would. Multitudes of the South Sea 
Islanders, witnessing the increased comforts which 
the Christian islands obtained from their teachers, 
were strongly induced by that circumstance, united 
with others, to relinquish their own idolatry; and 
the same result may be expected wherever the arts 
and commodities of civilized countries are intro- 
duced among savages in conjunction with the 
Gospel. 

Lastly. It should never be forgotten that, in 
addition to whatever influence we may possess in 
other heathen nations by our superiority in arts 
and in arms, we possess in India the influence of 
absolute dominion. In that country a hundred 
millions of idolaters have been placed under the 
British Crown, upon whom the Indian Government 
acts with incomparably greater force than a govern- 
ment can ever exert upon an educated people ac- 
customed to free institutions. The Government 
there is every thing, and that Government is Chris- 
tian. There the European is reverenced, and the 
missionary is protected. Multitudes are eager to 
learn the English language. Knowledge fatal to 
their superstition is rapidly gaining ground; and 



FOR EXTENDING CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 327 

there is nothing to hinder us, if we pleased, di- 
viding the whole country for missionary purposes 
into contiguous parishes, and giving to each parish 
its missionary, supposing these missionaries to be 
maintained, not by taxation of the Hindoos, but 
by our Christian zeal. 

Our numbers, our wealth, our wide-spread edu- 
cation, our superiority in arts and arms, our uni- 
versal commerce, and our dominion over a hundred 
millions of the heathen, give us a power to do 
good which is incalculable; and we want nothing 
but more piety to enable us to evangelize a large 
portion of the world. 



CHAPTER VI. 



ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 



" The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few : Pray 
ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth 
labourers into his harvest." — Matt. ix. 37, 38. 



To those who bear in mind the capability of this 
nation to furnish both money and men for the 
missionary enterprize, it must be matter of deep 
regret to think how small is the entire number 
of missionaries employed. But the whole amount 
of the mischief arising from the smallness of their 
number is not at once apparent. There being a 
vast region of heathenism, and but few mission- 
aries, each Society is obliged, in the progress of 
its labours, frequently to examine whether, on the 
whole, it is most useful to concentrate that feeble 
body on a few points, or to scatter them among 
uninstructed millions. In practice they have very 
much scattered them. Two are sent by a great 
Society to Asia Minor, one to the islands of the 
Grecian Archipelago, one or two to Siberia, one 
to Canton, another to Java, and two to Sumatra. 



ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 329 

Nor can this decision be hastily blamed. Whole 
nations cannot be left in total ignorance of the 
Gospel, and the labours of the solitary missionary 
may prepare the way for more. Mr. Kara has 
probably been far more successful, though sent 
alone by the London Society to the Moluccas, than 
had he been located with his fellow-labourers at 
Bangalore or Combaconum. Mr. Morrison would 
not have served the cause of Christ so effectually 
had he been associated with the missionaries of 
Calcutta, as he did though alone at Canton. Few 
could wish that Mr. Gobat had not been sent to 
Abyssinia, or that Mr. Judson had not stationed 
himself at Rangoon. On the whole therefore I 
do not mean to impugn the decision of the different 
Societies, who have scattered their few missionaries 
far and wide over the heathen world. It was the 
best that they could do with the limited means 
placed at their disposal by the niggardly zeal of 
the community. But this separation of the la- 
bourers has not on that account failed to produce, 
in various instances, very mournful results. It may 
have been best, under all circumstances, to plant 
single missionaries in many lands, but the good 
which has resulted from these efforts has been in- 
comparably less than what might have been ex- 
pected had more missionaries been placed at each 
station. The advantages resulting from the asso- 
ciation of several missionaries on the same field 
of labour, or on those immediately contiguous, are 
obvious and important. 



330 ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 

1. They are thus enabled to effect a most neces- 
sary division of labour. To make a mission tho- 
roughly effective, there should be at least four 
missionaries labouring together. The first should 
make useful translations into the vernacular lan- 
guage, and write useful elementary works, both 
for schools and for general reading; the second 
should visit the families of the neighbourhood, 
converse with all enquirers, conduct the services 
at the mission chapel, be a pastor to the converts, 
and afford medicine to the sick ; the third should 
form and superintend schools in the vernacular 
language, and selecting the most promising youths, 
should train them in an English school for the 
work of the ministry ; and the fourth should itine- 
rate to distribute tracts, and preach throughout a 
wider district : while all should employ their 
leisure in promoting in every possible way the tem- 
poral welfare of the people, teaching them new 
arts, suggesting new modes of cultivation, and 
improving their domestic economy. Each of these 
departments is obviously enough to occupy all a 
man's time : and should the work of four men de- 
volve on one, or even two, all must be imperfectly 
and therefore less effectively done. 

2. Associated missionaries can render to each 
other important aid. When a young missionary 
first enters on his work, he may obtain from elder 
missionaries in the same sphere much assistance 
in his study of the language ; and they may make 
him acquainted with the customs and opinions of 



ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 331 

the people, by which information he will avoid 
doing unnecessary violence to popular prejudices. 
In their practice he may see at once the most 
approved modes of labour, which will save him 
from unwise and fruitless experiments ; they may 
preserve him from extravagant hopes and from 
undue depression; and their experience may give 
him wisdom, their disappointments preparing him 
for trials, and their successes inspiring him with 
courage. 

During their whole ministry likewise, associated 
missionaries may give each other important help. 
If either of them should be involved in perplexing 
circumstances, he might seek the advice of the 
rest ; if he should sink into indolence, he might 
be roused by their zeal. The wisdom, diligence, 
faith, and charity of the most eminent Christian 
among them, would afford continual help to all 
the others ; all would aid each other by Christian 
conversation; all would unite in prayer. But it 
would be in sickness especially that the advantage 
of numbers would be felt. When a missionary 
who is labouring alone loses his health, the result 
of the suspension of his labours must be, that the 
converts, the catechumens, the schools, all must 
fall into grievous disorder. When the interruption 
is long, the effects of his previous labours must 
be almost destroyed. With such a prospect before 
him, the solitary missionary cannot bring himself 
to relinquish his exertions, till irreparable mischief 
being done to his constitution, he falls a sacrifice 



ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 



to his sense of duty. Should he be compelled, by 
insupportable weakness, to relinquish them, what 
then becomes of his people ? But should there be 
several missionaries in his immediate neighbour- 
hood, they may easily exercise some superinten- 
dence over his station, by which his life may be 
saved, and the mission may still flourish. Or 
should a missionary be removed by death, the 
others can still supply his place till a new labourer 
arrives, and the infant church may still continue to 
prosper. 

3. We may add to these considerations, that the 
conjunction of several missionaries must in itself 
produce an effect upon the mind of a heathen. 
When he hears several men, of understandings 
and acquirements superior to his own, all speaking 
the same thing, all living by the same law, all 
endeavouring to do him good, their writings, 
schools, sermons, conversations, and medical care, 
must concur in producing an effect far beyond what 
either of them alone could have hoped to produce. 

Nothing therefore can be more certain, than that 
several missionaries together are more effective than 
the same number acting separately would be. And 
this I believe is generally acknowledged by the 
Directors of the several Societies. Yet the slight- 
est glance at their missionary stations may serve 
to show how few are supplied with even that small- 
est number which is necessary to make a mission 
effective. 

In 1813, two missionaries from the London 



ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES, 333 

Society reached the Island of Java, one of whom, 
Mr. Kam, shortly proceeded alone to the Moluccas, 
the other, Mr. Supper, laboured among the Chinese 
at Batavia. His reception and his early successes 
were most encouraging, but he died in 1814, and 
as no missionary could be sent to supply his place 
till the summer of 1819, there could then have been 
scarcely a trace of his ministry, and Mr. Slater 
must have been obliged to begin the work afresh, 
as much almost as if no missionary had ever pre- 
ceded him, and then had likewise to begin the 
work alone. 

In November, 1807, Messrs. Chater and Carey, 
from Serampore, established a mission among the 
Birmese at Rangoon: but in 1811, Mr. Chater 
relinquished it; and Mr. Carey was left alone till 
1813, when he also relinquished it: so that when 
Mr. and Mrs. Judson arrived in 1813, there was 
no convert, no school, no spiritual effect whatever 
discernible, and the mission had still to be com- 
menced. 1 

June 18, 1820, Mr. Kenney, of the Church 
Missionary Society, was stationed alone at Bom- 
bay; 2 and consequently, in 1825, the station was 
left without a missionary. July, 1826, Messrs. 
Mitchell and Steward arrived : but in 1827, Mr. 

1 See Missionary Records, China, &c, and Life of Mrs. 
Judson. 

2 Twenty-first Church Missionary Report, 53 ; Twenty-sixth 
Church Missionary Report, 106. 



dd4 ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 

Steward removed to Calcutta, 1 and Mr. Mitchell 
to Basseen; so that Bombay was again without 
a missionary. Family circumstances compelling 
Mr. Mitchell also to return home, all the efforts at 
Basseen were likewise relinquished:* and when 
Messrs. Fairer and Dixon, in 1832, entered on 
their mission at JNassuck, the West India mission 
had almost as completely to be begun as if their 
Society had never sent a missionary to that part 
of India. Ten years of missionary labour had been 
almost completely lost. Mayaveram must be added 
to this melancholy list. Although it has had its 
missionary, although a mission-house, chapel, and 
school-house have been erected, and many native 
teachers have been brought into active employment, 
still when it lost its single missionary, no other 
was found to replace him; and for several years 
it has been in a state of desolation. In all these 
cases there has been a waste of men and money, 
of effort and time, all which waste would have 
been avoided, if more men could have been sent. 
Had each of these places possessed its four mis- 
sionaries, there would in all probability have been 
no suspension of the mission: the schools, the 
preaching, and the translations would have been 
continued ; and in each the progress of the Gospel 
would have been much greater than it has been : 



1 Twenty-seventh Church Missionary Report, 140. 

2 Twenty-ninth Church Missionary Report, 105. 



ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 335 

Bombay, which the experience of the Scotch 
mission shows to be a most important field of 
exertion, would not now have been without a mis- 
sionary of the Church Missionary Society ; and 
Mayaveram, instead of being* a melancholy scene 
of spiritual desolation, would have been a focus 
of light for all the country around it. 1 

Several other instances, in illustration of the 
mischief arising from the feebleness of missionary 
force, occur to my recollection, but the evil is too 
obvious to need illustration, and this being the case, 
it is melancholy to reflect on the number of places 
where the labourers are so few. Agra, Gorruck- 
pore, Chunar, Chinsurah, Cuddapah, Coimbatoor, 
Chittoor, Allepie and Cochin, important places 
and far asunder, have but one missionary stationed 
at each. Some large cities are still worse supplied : 
a few having only a catechist, and many being 
without any missionary at all. In all these cases, 
it must be apparent, that in the ordinary course of 
things very little fruit can be looked for. The 
missionary is overborne by his work ; his schools 
interfere with his translations ; his preaching and 
teaching forbid attention to his school ; if he takes 
care of his flock, he must neglect the neighbouring 
district ; if he itinerates through the neighbour- 
hood, he must neglect his flock. Business, sick- 
ness, whatever carries him from home, suspends 

1 Since these remarks were written, two missionaries have been 
sent out to Bombay, and two to Mayaveram. 



340 ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 

the operations of the mission. If exhausted and ill, 
he must see the mission fall into confusion, or he 
must work on and die. How many deaths in India 
may probably be traced to this cause ; and should 
these feeble missions receive no accessions of 
strength, how many more will occur ! 

Let us now look at the effect produced by the 
concentration of missionary efforts upon a manage- 
able district. The American missionaries to Cey- 
lon, instead of being scattered over the whole island, 
have confined themselves to Jaffna, a district at its 
northern extremity containing one hundred and 
forty-seven thousand six hundred and seventy-one 
souls. Seven miles west from the principal town 
Jaffna, is a missionary station called Batticotta; 
four miles north of Batticotta is Pandeteripo ; five 
miles from Pandeteripo is Tillipally; five miles 
from Tillipally is Oodooville ; two miles from 
Oodooville is Manepy ; and Manepy is four miles 
east of Batticotta. The circuit of these five earliest 
stations, to which two others have since been 
added, 1 is thus made in about twenty miles, and 
no station is more than five miles from another, 
and the furthest, Tillipally and Batticotta are not 
nine miles apart.* At this district, five mission- 
aries, four of whom were married, arrived from 
America in March, 1816; and at present there are 
six missionaries, exclusive of a physician, a printer, 



1 Twenty-ninth Report of the American Board of Missions. 

2 Life of Mrs. Win slow, 101, &c. 



ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 337 

four native preachers and other native teachers. 1 
From the first, therefore, instead of being alone, 
these missionaries have had the comfort of each 
other's society. On the 1st of February, 1820, 
fifteen missionaries dined together at the table of 
Mr. Winslow. 2 Besides the American brethren, 
there were at that time twenty English missiona- 
ries in the island, and the number in 1835 was still 
nineteen, of whom one was a Baptist, ten were 
Wesleyans, and eight were of the Church Mission- 
ary Society. Among so many brethren, no mis- 
sionary would feel depressed by solitude, nor be 
destitute of aid in sickness, nor be unable to ask 
counsel in perplexity. Four times in each year, all 
the American missionaries assembled for consulta- 
tion and prayer. They had also regular monthly 
prayer meetings ; and often, after agreeing to pray 
for the effusion of the Spirit, separately, at fixed 
hours, they would meet at one of the stations for 
united supplication. Wherever likewise the minis- 
try of either of the brethren was specially blessed, 
the others hastened to the spot to strengthen by 
their exhortations the impressions already made 
upon any of the people. 3 Another advantage de- 
rived from the contiguity of the stations was, the 
formation of two central schools. One for training 
up young men for the ministry, the other for the 

1 Twenty-ninth Report of the American Board of Missions. 

2 Life of Mrs. Winslow, 87. 

3 lb. 118, 176, 177, 130, 135, 188, 189, 209, 210. 

Q 



ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 



education of the most promising girls. The semi- 
nary was established in 1823, at Batticotta, in the 
place of five boarding schools, which had been pre- 
viously opened at the five stations. In it the 
students, besides instruction in Tamul, were taught 
the English language and the elements of Euro- 
pean science. Forty-eight youths were received 
into it the first year, and in 1834 there were one 
hundred and forty-two. 1 Had the stations been 
widely scattered, the timidity of the natives would 
have hindered them sending their children to a 
distant general institution; while the duties of a 
single missionary would have prevented all due 
attention to a seminary at the station : and thus 
the formation of a native ministry would have been 
hindered. These remarks apply still more forcibly 
to the central female school at Oodooville. Though 
it was so near to them, parents at first were very 
reluctant to send their children to it; but as the 
whole missionary body obtained their confidence, 
and they could learn from their neighbours the 
character of the management, it became so popular, 
that when, on one occasion, there were vacancies 
for about twenty children, more than seventy, and 
nearly all of good caste, applied to be admitted. 
The blessing which has followed these concentrated 
efforts has also been remarkable. In the year 
1822, only six years from the establishment of the 
mission, fourteen natives were added to the church; 



1 Life of Mrs. Winslow, 171, 293, 354. 



ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 339 

and in the beginning of 1824, many were brought to 
make a serious profession of religion. "The greater 
part of them were members of the boarding-schools, 
or schoolmasters, domestics, and other assistants, 
who had been formed into Bible-classes and dili- 
gently instructed. The remainder were such as 
lived in the vicinity of the stations, and had often 
attended preaching. There were few cases of per- 
manent conviction where there was not some pre- 
vious knowledge of the truth ; and few in which 
religious impressions were not cherished by much 
patient labour of the missionaries or their assistants, 
in conversing and praying with the individuals 
alone. It was this repeated and personal applica- 
tion of the truth to those able in some measure to 
comprehend it, which principally took effect. At 
the same time, the nearness of the stations to each 
other enabled the missionaries to give mutual aid 
in these and similar labours, and to make their 
public meetings more animating and impressive. 
Their own souls also were quickened by their 
seasons of social devotion. Seldom, perhaps, has 
the promise to two or three met together, been more 
strikingly fulfilled. The revival commenced after 
a special season of fasting and prayer ; and its pro- 
gress was marked by a spirit of fervent interces- 
sion." 1 

In the beginning of 1825, the fervent inter- 
cessions and indefatigable labours of the mission- 

1 Life of Mrs. Winslow, 149, 180, 181, 293. 

Q 2 



340 ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 



aries again brought a remarkable blessing from 
God. 

Of these two occasions, on which the Holy Spirit 
was pleased so remarkably to bless that infant 
church, Mrs. Winslow wrote, "They were preceded 
by a deep sense of deficiency in the missionaries, 
which led them to humble themselves before God ; 
and they were accompanied throughout with a spirit 
of prayer ; a pleading— a wrestling for souls— some- 
thing, I think, of what our Saviour expressed when 
he said, 'I have a baptism to be baptized with, 
and how am I straitened till it be accomplished.' 
Social prayer-meetings have been peculiarly blest. 
Even while we have been speaking, our prayers 
have seemed to be answered. In a number of in- 
stances, the missionaries have set apart one hour in 
the day to unite in prayer for the same object, for 
five days in succession. On the sixth, a part of 
the day has been spent in fasting and prayer, and 
on the seventh, all have met together for united 
supplication." 

On the 14th of January, out of the number of 
candidates for baptism, forty-one were accepted, 
and shortly after, the Lord's Supper was adminis- 
tered to sixteen missionaries and seventy native 
Christians together. In 1826, the church consisted 
of one hundred and sixty-five native members, the 
majority being above twenty years of age, and 
several more than fifty years. 1 The number of 

1 Life of Mrs. Winslow, 185, 186, 188, 206. 



ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 341 



adults brought to receive the truth was consider- 
able. Of the natives admitted to the church, to 
the end of August, 1831, there were thirty school- 
masters and fifty villagers. Of these, thirty were 
more than forty years old, and thirteen more than 
fifty. The next year thirty were added to the 
church, of whom a still larger proportion were 
adults. On this subject, one of the missionaries 
wrote thus : " Though the greater part of those 
received into the church are young, yet a sufficient 
number of adults have been gathered to show that 
God, in the dispensation of his grace, is not con- 
fined to the rising generation ; and that the opi- 
nion, too commonly expressed, of the hopeless state 
of adult heathen, is not warranted by experience. 
If missionary efforts, instead of being so desultory 
as they often are, were more concentrated, and 
brought to bear more directly and constantly on 
a small population, instead of being wasted on a 
large surface, we are persuaded that more converts 
would be seen even among adults." 

Still it was among the younger persons that most 
conversions took place. Ninety of the children in 
the boarding-schools at one time were under seri- 
ous impressions. 1 From the seminary, one hun- 
dred and thirty-six members have been added to 
the church, and at present fifty-eight seminarists 
are baptized. 2 In the central female school, all the 

1 Life of Mrs. Winslow, 179, 304. 

2 Twenty-ninth Report of the American Board of Missions. 



ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 



girls who had passed through a regular course of 
instruction under Mrs. Winslow's care, up to the 
time of her death, being twenty-four in number, were 
become members of the church ; appeared to be truly 
pious; and no one had disgraced her profession. 
Some of these also used to pray and converse with the 
other children in private, and were made useful to 
them. One became a schoolmistress, and each Sab- 
bath brought her forty or fifty little heathen girls to 
the house of God. Twelve, before Mrs. Winslow's 
death, in January, 1832, were married to Christian 
husbands, and, in the management of their house- 
holds, exhibited the loveliness of domestic virtue 
amidst surrounding vice. And, on the whole, 
forty-one have become members of the church. 1 
Each year the number of believers has continued 
to enlarge ; forty-nine new members were admitted 
to communion in 1837, and the whole number of 
members at present in the seven churches is three 
hundred and thirty, among whom are four native 
preachers, thirty-four schoolmasters, and seventy- 
one native helpers. 2 Although these results were 
to be attributed mainly to the blessing of God upon 
the faithfulness, assiduity, and prayer of the mis- 
sionaries, still they were much also owing, accord- 
ing to their own belief, to the help which they were 

1 Life of Mrs. Winslow, 172, 184, 222, 292. Twenty-ninth 
Report. 

2 Twenty-ninth Report of the American Board of Missions. 



OX THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 343 

ever ready to lend to each other, from the prox- 
imity of their stations; and to the influence which 
their combined examples and exhortations had, 
both upon the children, the congregations, and the 
neighbourhood. 

Precisely similar advantages have accrued to the 
New Zealand missions and to the French mission 
in South Africa, by the conjunction of the missiona- 
ries, though to a less extent, because the missiona- 
ries in both cases, and especially in the latter, are 
much farther from each other. Wherever there 
has been this conjunction of faithful missionaries, 
success has been granted to their labours ; and if 
in the neglect of that obvious instrumentality, mis- 
sionaries have been planted alone among strange 
people, to learn the language as they could, to 
blunder on in ignorance of their habits, to be sus- 
pected because unknown, despised because solitary, 
oppressed by labours to which there was no end, 
and from which there could be no respite ; if under 
these circumstances they have died, leaving their 
solitary successors to begin the work almost afresh, 
and like them to die almost before it was begun, 
we need not be surprised that heathen societies 
have never been shaken to their foundations, that 
Christianity has rather shone among the heathen 
like a subterranean lamp than as the rising sun, 
that there have been comparatively few converts 
and still fewer native ministers trained up to do the 
work of evangelists. Solitary missionaries could 



344 ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 

not do it. But why have these scattered missions 
languished thus? Because the different societies 
could not leave whole provinces and countries with- 
out any means of knowledge, especially when any 
facilities were offered for founding missions in 
them ; and because they had neither funds nor 
men to supply these new missions with more than 
single missionaries. 

It is not the directors of these societies who are 
to be charged with the waste of effort, and treasure, 
and life, but the community which placed such 
inadequate means at their disposal. And now that 
the truth is beginning to be known, it is not the 
directors, but Christians in general, who must re- 
medy the evil, by furnishing more missionaries 
and more means for their support. Round every 
one of these solitary stations which I have men- 
tioned, and others similarly placed, should there be 
new missionary districts formed, on which new 
evangelists should be stationed ; by whose conjoint 
labours, with the proceeds of an active press, we 
may look for results like those in Jaffna, if only 
there be the same clear views of truth, the same 
sense and industry, with equal faith and as much 
of the spirit of prayer. So far therefore from re- 
laxing their exertions, Christians, if they wish to 
see the Gospel triumph, must increase them ten- 
fold. New fields are inviting them to enter; and 
the missions already commenced, need to be mate- 
rially strengthened, while every measure of success 
vouchsafed by the Almighty, will only enlarge the 



ON THE NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES. 345 

sphere of operation ; and, till a native ministry be 
formed, and the churches in heathen lands become 
strong enough to maintain themselves, they will the 
more require those patient and persevering exer- 
tions in which all real disciples of Christ must 
rejoice to take a part. 



q3 



CHAPTER VII. 



ON THE MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 



cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." 
Acts iv. 20. 



Upon the first view of the motives to missionary 
efforts, we should think it impossible for any per- 
son to resist their influence without giving up the 
Christian name. 1st. That missionaries should be 
sent into all the world, and that they should be 
maintained by the church, is undeniably the will of 
God, who having pitied and adopted and saved his 
people, now commands them to seek the salvation 
of the heathen. How can a Christian disobey? 
Whatever may be the results of missions, or what- 
ever the apparen t impracticability of the work, God 
has said that missionaries must be sent, and Chris- 
tians must send them. To these efforts they are no 
less prompted by the world's necessities. Millions 
are perishing in ungodliness and immorality, be- 
cause they know not Christ, who might be "saved 
by the preaching of the Gospel. They are now 
miserable, and the Gospel would instantly amelio- 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 347 

rate their lot ; they are exposed to the curse of 
God, and the Gospel would bring them under his 
blessing : how can Christians believe this, and 
leave them to perish ? Were the obstacles to the 
accomplishment of this work immense, surely the 
danger and misery of so large a portion of the 
human race, should make the church of Christ 
resolve upon overcoming them. From lower ob- 
jects than these, men are found willing, in num- 
bers, to march upon the cannon's mouth, or brave 
all the rigours of an arctic sky. But, in truth, the 
greatest difficulties almost every where are past, 
and a large portion of the heathen world are pre- 
pared to welcome the Christian missionary. Mis- 
sionaries may settle almost where they please. 
Every where the people will listen ; every where 
the children may receive a Christian education ; 
every where Christian worship may be conducted 
publicly ; and the numbers who have been brought 
to know and love the Lord already in various lands, 
abundantly show how many might be saved, if 
Christians would furnish more adequate instruction. 
Frequently and seriously let us meditate upon the 
great results of missions which have been already 
described. The servants of Jesus Christ go forth 
to subdue every form of evil, and to mitigate every 
species of suffering on the whole earth. They go 
to lead sinners to trust in Christ, and to take his 
yoke ; to substitute the revelation of God for the 
lies of heathenism, and the morality of the Gospel 
for all the vices which reign unchecked throughout 

Q4 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 



the regions of an accursed idolatry. They go to 
enlighten the ignorant ; to civilize the barbarous ; 
to rescue women from a degrading servitude, and 
children from an early death. They go to educate 
whole nations, to communicate to them the know- 
ledge of our literature, our laws, our arts, and our in- 
stitutions. They go to set the slave free, to put an 
end to all wars of plunder and revenge, to substi- 
tute every where order for anarchy, law for des- 
potism, benevolence for cruelty, and justice for 
oppression. They go to let loose men's imprisoned 
energies, and to chain up their lawless passions. 
They go to make property secure, and industry 
profitable; to secure to the rich man his palace, 
and to the poor man his cabin ; and to spread con- 
tentment, domestic affection, and general happiness, 
where penury, vice, and discord make existence a 
curse. They go to give children the blessing of 
parental care, and parents the joy of filial gratitude. 
They go to protect the weak against the strong ; to 
unite in brotherly affection the rich and poor ; and 
to make the nations one family. Finally, they go 
to turn men from darkness to light, and from the 
power of Satan to God ; to teach them how to live 
and how to die ; to show them the way to glory ; 
to tell them of their Saviour ; and to make them 
know their God ; to prepare them for heaven, and 
to guide them safely to its bliss. 

INo language can describe the value of the bless- 
ings which are conveyed to a single idolater who 
becomes a, disciple of Christ ; a thousand sources 



MOTIVES ON MISSIONARY EXERTION. 349 

of sorrow being instantly dried up, and a thousand 
streams of happiness bursting forth at once to glad- 
den him. But vast numbers have already received 
these blessings from missionary labours. To see 
what the Gospel has done for them, we should 
learn accurately what they once were as heathen, 
and then see what they have become as Christians. 
We should live for a few months among a church 
of Hottentots, Tahitians, or New Zealanders. Yet 
not even then could we at all realize all the bless- 
ings which missions will impart to the world. For 
these thousands who are now converted to Christ, 
must grow into millions of believers, and these 
millions shall leave other millions behind them to 
bless God from generation to generation till time 
ends. Then will the gathering come, when the 
whole assembly and church of the first-born, sancti- 
fied and saved through these exertions, shall enter 
on their infinity of bliss in the presence of the glo- 
rified Redeemer ; and at length it will be known, in 
some measure, what the preaching of the cross, 
which is to them that perish foolishness, was de- 
signed by God to accomplish. Yet even then it 
will be only known partially, because the events 
which lie hid in the eternity to come, can be dis- 
cerned by none but an infinite intelligence, and 
each of the innumerable company of the redeemed 
will have his separate eternity of joy. 

All these motives derive new force from the 
increase of our knowledge. If we could imagine 
that the heathen are comparatively innocent and 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 



pure, if we could surmise that they would be utterly 
opposed to the preaching of the Gospel, or if no 
instances could be adduced of idolaters who have 
been converted, then we might have some cloak 
for the sin of inactivity. But now that we know 
the demons whom they worship, the sanguinary 
and licentious rites which they practise, their vices 
and their misery, woe be to us if we pretend to 
believe that they do not need the Gospel; with 
certain information, that in many lands they are 
ready to listen, and in some are eager for instruc- 
tion, we are without excuse if we deny the prac- 
ticability of preaching it; and since evidence the 
most abundant, and the most unquestionable, as- 
sures us that wherever it is preached, numbers 
are converted, sanctified, and saved, we must be 
criminal to disbelieve its efficacy. Already we have 
testimony enough to reduce every sceptic to silence, 
and each year the evidence is accumulating, so that 
none but those who are resolved to shut their eyes 
can now doubt these results ; and even these, unless 
they can change their slumber into blindness, will 
soon be forced to see. To be inert during ignorance 
is sufficiently criminal, because even the most igno- 
rant may see reasons enough to make the experi- 
ment of missions, but to be inert now is to do 
violence to our convictions, to disregard known 
duty, and openly to despise the authority of God. 

We may also find new reasons for prompt and 
vigorous exertion in the consideration of our past 
neglects. It is enough that for fifteen hundred 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 351 

years, multitudes who have called themselves Chris- 
tians, instead of preaching Christ to the heathen, 
have been living in neglect of the Bible, only to 
adulterate the doctrines of the Gospel, and forget 
the way of salvation themselves. Instead of seek- 
ing justification through faith, they have asked 
priests to absolve them from sin; instead of de- 
pending on his mediation, they have sought a 
thousand human mediators between them and God; 
instead of receiving him to their hearts, they have 
adored the wafer ; and instead of seeking salvation 
from sin, they have sought salvation in sin. Priests 
and people have been equally corrupt : and the 
few who loved God have been persecuted, tortured, 
and killed. At length the grace of God in the 
Reformers prevailed to rescue from oblivion the 
authority of the Bible, and with it the doctrines 
of grace. But since that time, professed Christians 
in general have made no answerable improvement. 
Up to this very day, they have been living in 
gluttony, drunkenness, and impurity ; in the com- 
mission of fraud ; in the violation of justice. They 
have been wasting lives without number, and trea- 
sure beyond all counting, in fighting with each 
other. Every country in Europe, from the vine- 
clad hills of Spain to the walls of Moscow, has been 
deluged with Christian blood, shed in these fratri- 
cidal conflicts. And when men had any respite 
from foreign war or civil commotion, they ate, they 
drank, they gambled, they danced; but they never 
taught the poor, nor reformed the criminal, nor 



352 MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 



preached to the world, nor listened to the Gospel 
themselves. Our country has been too much like 
the rest: and though we have gloried in being 
the bulwark of Protestantism, and the focus of 
religious light, what have we done to instruct 
others? Our own poor have been uneducated; 
hundreds of thousands are without the means of 
public worship ; and a century ago there was not, 
I believe, a single missionary of the Church of 
England throughout the world. Englishmen were 
drinking, and dancing, and fox-hunting, and crowd- 
ing the theatres, and multiplying the gin shops, 
building more prisons, and sending away crowded 
convict ships to form a nation of thieves and profli- 
gates at the antipodes ; they were tearing Africans 
from their native homes, and killing them by the 
lash in the West Indies ; they were exterminating 
the native tribes by vice and ardent spirits, by 
cheating and by cruelty, wherever they settled; 
and they were carrying our victorious arms from 
Madras to Cape Comorin, and from the banks 
of the Hoogley to the sources of the Jumna and 
the Ganges : but all this while there was not one 
English missionary throughout the world. One 
or two Americans in New England, and one or 
two Germans in India, with a few Moravians, were 
all that the whole Protestant community could fur- 
nish to instruct the heathen millions. Have we our- 
selves individually done much better? What pains 
have we taken to know the state of the heathen ? 
Have we prayed in secret for their conversion? 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 353 

How much has their salvation rested on our minds? 
China, India, Africa, are perishing in heathenism, 
what efforts have we made to save them? Surely 
these long and criminal neglects are enough; the 
time is come for action ; and those who do not wish 
to act in direct and palpable opposition to their 
Christian profession, should fill their remaining 
days with efforts of self-denying benevolence. Time 
is short, the work is very great, and few are as 
yet awake ; those few must not relapse into slum- 
ber. 

On the other hand, there are not wanting ex- 
amples of liberality in the cause of God, to remind 
Christians that their Master has said, " It is more 
blessed to give than to receive ." We read in the 
New Testament of one person who gave all the 
money in her possession for the service of God ; 
and of another who, though blamed for it by the 
Apostles, anointed the feet of Jesus with a perfume 
which was valued at 300 denarii; while Zaccheus 
said, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to 
the poor." In later days, John Davies, of Devau- 
den Hill, near Chepstow, now about 73 years of 
age, has shown similar zeal. Having for many 
years travelled as a pedlar with a pack and basket, 
he commiserated the wretched state of the people 
of Devauden, whom he sometimes visited ; and 
with a view to instruct them, he prepared himself 
for the office of a schoolmaster. At first he ob- 
tained a school at Usk with a good salary ; but 
as the people of Usk could afford to pay a master, 



354 MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 

and those of Devauden could not, he left the former 
place, beloved and regretted by all who knew him, 
to place himself at the latter. There he has since 
that time expounded the Scriptures in a school 
which has generally held about eighty children, 
who would otherwise have been neglected; and 
these he has trained up in the fear of God. Besides 
obtaining about £20 yearly from the school, he 
has cultivated an acre of poor land, from the pro- 
duce of which he has fatted a few pigs, and he 
has sometimes made from £4 to £8 per annum by 
the sale of flour. With this small income he has 
done much good. First, he induced the people 
of the parish of Kilgwrrwg to repair their church, 
the nearest to Devauden, and then in a ruinous 
state. When they had repaired it, he gave a set 
of benches for the poor, erected a small gallery, and 
presented a velvet cover for the communion table, 
at the cost of about £30. But the people of De- 
vauden being at a distance from the church, still 
spent the Sabbath in idleness and sport. To 
remedy this evil, Mr. Davies, in 1828, undertook 
to fit up a school-room as a chapel, which was in 
fact opened for divine worship, March 11, 1829. 
But this, besides costing him £45, turned him out 
of his home, for he had hitherto possessed no other 
house. He was now therefore obliged to build 
himself a small cottage ; and when this was done, 
feeling it painful to his mind to conduct the ordi- 
nary duties of a day-school in a place of worship, 
he determined to build another school-room. His 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 355 

known character soon procuring subscriptions, the 
room was shortly raised ; and since that time a new 
chapel has been built and consecrated. Thus the 
children of Devauden have received their education, 
and the people the blessing of public worship 
mainly through his zeal. While he has cared for 
his neighbours, he has had a heart too to pity 
the heathen. When, in 1820, he began to read of 
missions to his scholars and his neighbours, fifteen 
of the latter became subscribers ; the children 
contributed about twenty shillings within the year, 
and with these contributions he brought his own 
annual subscription of 12s. and a donation of £5. 
The second year he brought the contributions as 
before, and added his donation of £10. The third 
year in which this part of his memoir was written, 
the subscriptions having fallen short, he made up 
the deficiency, and brought £5 besides : and since 
that period, as I have been informed by a gentle- 
man who lives in that neighbourhood, he has from 
time to time renewed these munificent donations. 
His fund for these contributions has been furnished 
by indefatigable industry and equal self-denial. 
Some years ago he seldom used animal food, and 
attempted, till his health failed, to restrict himself 
to bread and water. 1 

Sophia Bernard, a parishioner of Oberlin, in the 
Ban de la Roche, who depended for her subsistence 
almost entirely upon her labour, while unmarried, 

1 Brief Memoir of John Davies, by a Clergyman. London, 1832. 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 



maintained six orphan children, and would only 
marry on condition that her husband would allow 
her still to take care of them. The generous pea- 
sant not only consented, but even adopted after- 
wards several other orphans, all of whom, with 
their own children, were maintained by their joint 
labour. 1 There were other cottagers among Ober- 
lin's parishioners of the same Christian generosity, 
and indeed, his parishioners generally, under the 
influence of his instructions and example, conse- 
crated one-tenth of their income to God.* 2 

Nathaniel Eipley Cobb, of Boston, U. S. died 
May 22, 1834, in the 36th year of his age. In 
November, 1821, he drew up the following docu- 
ment : " By the grace of God I will never be worth 
more than 50,000 dollars. By the grace of God 
I will give one-fourth of the net profits of my busi- 
ness to charitable and religious uses. If I am 
ever worth 20,000 dollars, I will give one half of 
my net profits ; and if I am ever worth 30,000 
dollars, I will give three-fourths ; and the whole 
after 50,000 dollars. So help me God, or give 
to a more faithful steward, and set me aside." He 
adhered to this covenant with conscientious fidelity: 
and at one time, finding his property had increased 
beyond 50,000 dollars, he at once devoted the 
surplus 7,500 as a foundation for a professorship in 
the Newton Institution, to which, on various occa- 

1 Memoires of Oberlin, 4th edition. 

2 Notice sur Jean F. Oberlin. Paris, 1826. 48. 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 357 



sions during his short life, he gave at least twice 
that amount. Though a Baptist, and ever ready- 
to perform any service for the denomination to 
which he belonged, yet he was prompt in affording 
aid to all wise designs, which appeared to have 
a claim upon him as a Christian, a philanthropist, 
and a patriot : and particularly, he was a generous 
friend to many young men, whom he assisted in 
establishing themselves in business, and to many 
who were unfortunate. 1 

When Swartz was at Trichinopoly, his whole 
income was ten pagodas a month, or about £48 
per annum, with which he was quite contented ; 
and when afterwards he received £100 a year from 
the Madras Government, as Chaplain to the gar- 
rison, one year he spent the whole in the building 
of a mission-house and two schools ; and after- 
wards regularly expended half, in works of benevo- 
lence. 2 

Brainerd, when he consecrated his life to the 
most self-denying labours, employed nearly all his 
private fortune in the support of a pious student, 
whom he thought likely to be useful in the ministry. 

Howard, that he might do good to the vilest 
outcasts of society, relinquished the comforts of a 
settled home, and expended a considerable fortune 
in visiting with incredible labour almost all the 
prisons of Europe. 

1 Treffrey on Covietousness, 217. 

2 Life of Swartz, 165,171. 



358 MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 

Let me add the example of missionary zeal af- 
forded by Mr. and Mrs. Judson. For some rears 
they laboured without a single convert. Then when 
a few were given to their prayers, they had to en- 
dure spoliation, imprisonment, insult, hunger, sick- 
ness, and the prospect of a violent death, till 
their health was ruined, their nerves shattered, 
and their vigour impaired; yet would thev not 
leave their work. She, with a martyr's devoted- 
ness, still laboured and prayed for the conversion 
of that people till she died; and he, when he had 
laid his wife and children in the grave, self-exiled 
from the friends of his youth, never thought of 
deserting his post, but with unconquerable con- 
stancy pressed on towards the great end of his 
exertions, the establishment of Christ's kingdom 
among them. 

Next let me recal the example of the missionaries 
to New Herrnhut, on the coast of Greenland, whom 
no hardships and no insults on that bleak coast, 
and beneath that inclement sky, could divert from 
their object, till they saw a church of Christ flou- 
rishing among the most degraded savages, in the 
midst of everlasting snows. 

If, further, we wish to see the zeal of communi- 
ties, let us think of those five hundred brethren, 
from among whom the first Greenland missionaries 
went forth. They were poor and despised exiles 
in the heart of Germany; yet, within ten years, 
did they send missionaries to St. Thomas and 
St. Croix, to Greenland, to Surinam, and to Berbice, 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 359 



to several Indian tribes in North America, to the 
regions of South Carolina, to Lapland, and to Tar- 
tary ; to Algiers, to the Cape of Good Hope, and 
to Ceylon. 

Though compared with these efforts, our con- 
tributions, both of money and men, seem trivial, 
yet some persons among us are not without some- 
thing of their spirit. 

The following are among the contributions which 
I find in the last Reports of several Societies : 

In 1837-38, Surrey Chapel contributed £637 
to the missionary cause, and Christ Church, Man- 
chester, £430. The collection in Grosvenor Street 
Chapel, Manchester, after two missionary sermons, 
was £423 ; and that in Moseley Street Chapel, on 
a similar occasion, was £469. Bristol, in the same 
year, if I understand the accounts rightly, con- 
tributed £5050 to Christian missions — £160 to the 
Baptist Missionary Society, £713 to the "NTesleyan 
Missionary Society, £1083 to the Church Mission- 
ary Society, and £3094 to the London Missionary 
Society. 

In 1837, the following sums were contributed to 
the Wesley an Missionary Society : — From Mrs. 
Anne Grey, £600 ; from Mrs. Ay re, £600 ; from 
A. M. £200 ; from a Friend, £500 ; and from an 
anonymous contributor, £2000. One gentleman 
^ives annually £50 to the London Missionary So- 
ciety ; another subscribes £100 annually to the 
Church Missionary Society ; and A A has contri- 
buted on the whole to that Society, £3,300. And 



360 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 



a congregation, with which I am acquainted, be- 
sides subscribing about £400 annually, has, within 
ten years, furnished eight missionaries, four male 
and four female, while nine other members of the 
congregation have signified their readiness to go. 

Still do all these examples fall short of that set 
by the Primitive Church at Jerusalem ; for in these 
modern instances, some few zealous disciples have 
yielded themselves to the Lord ; but at that time 
" the multitude of them that believed were of one 
heart and one soul, neither said any of them that 
aught of the things which he possessed was his own; 
but they had all things common." 1 A similar spirit 
now, though it would not occasion a community of 
goods, would assuredly create vast funds for the 
cause of God, and lead many to consecrate them- 
selves to the work of the missionary. But though 
many in the early church were exemplary, one 
there was, whom the God of grace made to rise 
above the rest, as some snow summit above the 
inferior Alps. For Christ's sake, and for the sake 
of his fellow creatures, did St. Paul, foregoing all 
the objects of worldly ambition, power, fame,°and 
pleasure, dedicate himself to the work of an apostle, 
with an untiring energy and an unflinching courage' 
which, through danger and obloquy, through want, 
opposition, and toil, enabled him to profess, " None 
of these things move me, neither count I my life 
dear unto myself so that I might finish my course 



1 Acts iv. 32. 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 361 

with joy, and the ministry which I have received of 
the Lord Jesus to testify the Gospel of the grace of 
God." 1 Lastly, as high as the glorious sun is 
above the loftiest summits, whose everlasting snow 
it illuminates, does his example of charity rise above 
all others, " who being in the form of God, thought 
it not robbery to be equal with God; but made 
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the 
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of 
men, and being found in fashion as a man, humbled 
himself and became obedient unto death, even the 
death of the cross." 2 Other instances of charity 
deserve praise : this is unspeakable : they may 
excite regard ; this should fill earth and heaven 
with grateful adoration: they deserve to be re- 
corded for the benefit of successive generations; 
this will occupy the universe through eternity. 

If unable to feel the attraction of these ex- 
amples, professed Christians will still spend in 
pleasure, or uselessly hoard, the wealth which might 
essentially serve their fellow creatures, what will 
they gain by their choice ? There are, in the Word 
of God, examples of the love of money, no less 
than the love of souls ; but these are not such as 
should invite us to imitate them. The love of 
money made Balaam unite with the enemies of 
God, to his destruction : it made Achan violate an 
express command of the Almighty, which occa- 
sioned both his own death and that of all his 

1 Acts xx. 24. 2 Phil. ii. 6—8. 

R 



362 MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 

family : through it Demas became an apostate ; 
it occasioned the fatal lie of Ananias; and under its 
influence Judas betrayed our Lord into the hands 
of his enemies. These are not instances to tempt 
Christians uselessly to hoard up the wealth by which 
they might do abundant good; even if innumerable 
proofs were not furnished by every day's expe- 
rience of the mischief which the love of money 
does to professed Christians and their children. 

Not without reason has St. Paul declared, that 
" the love of money is the root of all evil." 1 For 
it leads to pride and luxury, to injustice and fraud, 
to contention between nearest friends, to strife in 
families, to imperturbable hardness in the sight 
of human suffering, to absorbing selfishness, to the 
dislike of spiritual religion, to the neglect of secret 
prayer, to dangerous association with the world, 
to a useless life, and a doubtful death, to the loss of 
all generous sentiments, and the ruin of the im- 
mortal soul. 

Not without reason has he said, " they that will 
be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into 
many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in 
destruction and perdition" 2 Common observation 
shows that this is too true. If our Lord has said, 
" Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth" no 
man can innocently live in the violation of this com- 
mand. 3 The talent must be accounted for; 4 the 



1 1 Tim. vi. 10. 
3 Matt. vi. 19. 



2 1 Tim. vi. 9. 
4 Matt. xxv. 26. 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 363 

unprofitable servant who loyed to please himself 
must be judged; 1 and the covetous, no less than 
the profligate and the profane, must be shut out of 
heaven. 2 These are reasons enough why any one 
may ask himself, whether he is using the money 
entrusted to his stewardship, agreeably to the will 
of the great Proprietor ? 

If, further, persons who have money to spare 
for a thousand superfluities, or even for a thousand 
mischievous indulgences, do almost nothing for the 
spiritual welfare of others, what a condemning 
contrast do they exhibit between their prayers 
and their conduct ! Day by day they say, in the 
language of devout zeal, " Thy kingdom come, Thy 
will he done on earth as it is in heaven'' And 
while the devil reigns over the world with un- 
disputed dominion, and under his power men 
in general openly disregard the will of God, 
they will do nothing to turn them from darkness 
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. 
Are their prayers real? Then why not strive to 
secure their accomplishment? Are they false? 
Then are they daily uttering that falsehood before 
the Omniscient. Either let men live to promote 
the kingdom of God, or cease to pray that it may 
come. If they will live so as to confirm the 
world's sensuality, scepticism and ungodliness, then 
let them never more utter the petitions which they 
do not mean ; and if they will not labour for the 

1 Matt. xxv. 30. 2 1 Cor. vi. 10. 

R 2 



364 MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 

world's conversion, let them not pretend to pray 
for it. 

Let us turn however to a more pleasing topic : 
some there are who act as they pray ; and to those 
it may afford new motives for exertion, to think of 
their privileges. Admitted into the favour of God, 
and allowed to call God their Father, what is with- 
held from them ? " He that spared not his own Son, 
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with 
him also freely give us all things /" " Whether 
Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, 
or death, or things present, or things to come, all 
are yours.'" What a change has come over their 
whole condition for time and eternity, since they 
have, through grace, believed! Forgiven, renewed, 
accepted, and loved with an everlasting love, they 
are under the protecting care of God : his Spirit 
is preparing them for heaven ; meditation, praise, 
and prayer, are constantly bringing them new 
pleasure ; they love their duty ; they exult in their 
prospects; they delight in God; often they have 
joy and peace in believing ; and sometimes they 
rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 
All this, moreover, is the happiness of those, who, 
in the days of their unregeneracy, were " alienated 
and enemies in their minds by wicked works, the 
children of Satan, and the heirs of wrath" 1 How 
should this safety after such danger, these hopes 
after such despair, this happiness following such 



1 Col. i. 21. I John iii.8— 10. Eph. ii. 3. 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 365 

misery, make them solicitous to see others saved 
and blessed as they are? A person who was on 
the brink of eternal destruction, and through 
the unmerited compassion of God, through the 
death of Christ and the grace of the Holy Spirit, 
is pardoned, justified, renewed, sanctified, pre- 
served, and on his way to perfect bliss for ever, 
can scarcely think of all this, and leave others to 
perish who might be as much blessed as he is ? 
Christian, realize your blessings, and you cannot re- 
fuse efforts, contributions, and prayers, for those 
who are without them. 

Then let every one ask himself ; is a life of bene- 
volence painful? Our Lord has said, " It is more 
blessed to give than to receive!' 1 God gives, and the 
creature receives ; which is the most blessed? Parents 
give, and children receive ; which have the greatest 
pleasure? Beneficence is in itself delightful. It 
is pleasant to lessen sorrow, to remove error, and 
to make our fellow creatures happy : it is pleasant 
to feel conscious of doing good, and of deserving 
gratitude: it is pleasant to have an approving 
conscience, and to enjoy the favour of God. If 
one man should spend one thousand pounds on 
gambling, and another should spend an equal sum 
in building a church, which would reflect upon 
his expenditure with the greatest satisfaction? If 
one man, by the expenditure of one thousand 



1 Acts xx. 35. 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 



pounds, should add to his useless luxuries, and 
another, by the same expenditure, should give a 
Christian education to a hundred children for ten 
years, which would most add to his present enjoy- 
ment? Who are most cheerful, contented, and 
good tempered, those who spend all they can upon 
themselves, or those who habitually economize, that 
they may have more to give away? But, indeed, 
there is no need of reasoning on this point, since 
it is a fact known to every one who has the least 
observation, that liberal men are generally happier 
than those who are selfish. 

A life of Christian beneficence is, further, pleasing 
to God. When Mary poured that costly ointment 
on the head of Jesus, he not only defended her 
against the charge of extravagance, and declared 
she had done a good work, but he predicted and 
ordained, that wherever the Gospel should be 
preached, that action should be made known. When 
St. Paul received the pecuniary aid of the Philip- 
pians, he assured them it was " an odour of a sweet 
smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God" 1 
And the same truth is made in Scripture a reason 
why all Christians should liberally use their property 
for religious and charitable objects. " To do good 
and to communicate forget not, for with such sacri- 
fices God is well pleased." 2 The Almighty Sove- 
reign, the Great Benefactor, is then well pleased 



1 Phil. iv. 8. 



2 Heb. xiii. 16. 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. OO/ 

with the liberality of his people in every good 
cause ; and, with this knowledge, what Christian 
can be illiberal ? 

We may acid, that as the Almighty approves 
liberality, so he also blesses it. " Whosoever shall give 
unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only 
in the name of a disciple . . . he shall in no wise lose 
his reward" 1 " He that hath a bountiful eye shall 
beblessed,for he giveth of his bread to the poor.""- 
" For God is not unrighteous to forget your work 
and labour of love, which ye have showed toward his 
name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and 
do minister" 3 Blessings temporal, spiritual, and 
eternal, are promised to the exercise of a benevolent 
spirit. When Nebuchadnezzar was threatened with 
severe judgments, Daniel bade him break off his 
iniquity by showing mercy to the poor, because 
that might lengthen his tranquillity. 4 This temper 
brings help in trial : " Blessed is he that considereth 
the poor, the Lord will deliver him in time of trou- 
ble," 5 and secures its own reward : " He which 
soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he 
which soweth bountifully shall reap also bounti- 
fully." 6 Occasionally the greatest temporal bles- 
sings have been connected with this temper : but 
spiritual blessings, which are most to be coveted, 
are also the most secured by it. Why was Cor- 
nelius selected as the first of those Gentiles to 

1 Matt. v. 42. Mark ix. 41 . 2 Prov. xxii. 9. 

3 Heb. vi. 10. 4 Dan. iv. 27. 

s Psalm xli.l. 6 2 Cor. ix. 6. 



368 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 



whom the apostles were sent to teach ? « Cor- 
nelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in 
remembrance in the sight of God." i And Chris- 
tians in general have received this assurance 
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain 
mercy r* Indeed our Lord has promised to Chris- 
tian liberality an eternal reward. « When thou 
makestafeast call the poor, the maimed, the lame 
the blind, and thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot 
recompense thee, for thou shalt be recompensed at 
the resurrection of the just We derive the same 
assurance from the parable of the talents, and from 
the parable of the pounds. In both we learn that 
the unprofitable servant would, at the last day, be 
punished with the loss of all the gifts of God, 
which he has employed, not to serve God, but to 
please himself: in both we learn that those who 
have used their possessions for God, will be blessed 
at the second advent of our Saviour ; but besides 
this general truth taught by both, each parable 
contains its particular instruction. In that of the 
talents we observe, that the two talents employed 
with as much fidelity as five, would bring the same 
reward ; for both he who has five, and he who has 
two will receive the same welcome : « Well done 
good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over 
a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things, 
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."* But from that 



1 Acts x. 31. 

3 Luke xiv. 13, 14. 



2 Matt. v. 7. 

4 Matt. xxv. 21, 23. 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 369 

of the pounds we learn that the same amount of 
possessions, used with different degrees of fidelity, 
would lead to different rewards. The servant 
whose one pound brought ten, was made, at his 
Lord's return, governor over ten cities ; while he 
whose pound brought five, was made governor over 
five only. 1 Hence it appears, that while all fidelity 
brings a reward, and equal fidelity, with less pos- 
sessions, will bring an equal reward ; greater 
fidelity, with equal possessions, will bring a greater 
reward. Each believer therefore who uses his 
time, his mind, his knowledge, his rank, his money, 
well, to lessen sin and sorrow, to instruct the 
ignorant, to promulgate the Gospel, to relieve the 
distressed, to encourage industry, to train up young 
men of piety for the ministry, to build churches, 
to maintain schools, to circulate the Scriptures, and 
generally to make Christ known both at home and 
abroad, is laying up for himself treasure in heaven ; 
he is day by day increasing the blessedness of count- 
less ages of existence ; and he is securing a re- 
compense at the resurrection of the just. Saved 
wholly by mercy, and meriting nothing but con- 
demnation, because all that is good in him is of 
grace, and because his best works for their defects, 
deserve chastisement rather than reward ; his 
whole happiness in heaven must be a free gift 
through the merits of Christ ; but still that hap- 
piness will be measured by the grace exercised 



1 Lukexix, 16—19. 

R 3 



370 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 



here. No less therefore than if it were meri- 
torious, does each imperfect act of duty bring 
its eternal consequences ; nor can a cup of cold 
water given to a disciple lose its reward. Li- 
berality, while it neutralises all those noxious in- 
fluences of wealth, on account of which our Lord 
said, that it is easier for a camel to go through the 
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into 
the kingdom of God, pride, luxury, sensuality, 
sloth and worldliness, cherishes all the opposites. 
It is easier for a liberal Christian than for others, 
to commune with God, to maintain spirituality of 
mind, to exercise brotherly kindness, to be self- 
denying, and superior to the world ; to meet losses 
without murmuring, and prosperity without elation. 
It is easier for him than others, to give his time and 
his thoughts to works of piety and benevolence, 
because he who withholds his money from these 
objects, will seldom give anything else. The libe- 
ral Christian by his money, time, and faculties, 
saves souls from death ; comforts his afflicted bre- 
thren, improves society, and glorifies Christ : the 
covetous and the extravagant pretender to religion, 
leaves souls to perish, overlooks the sorrow of 
Christ's people, injures rather than benefits society, 
and does Christ dishonour. While one therefore 
will have the welcome of the faithful servant, the 
other must look for the doom of the unprofitable: 
while one will be placed among those who shall 
hear Christ say, " Come ye blessed of my Father, 
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 371 

foundation of the world; for I was an hungered, 
and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me 
drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, 
and ye clothed me ; I was sick, and ye visited me; 
1 was in prison, and ye came unto me ;" the other, 
with all who have the same habits, must hear him 
say, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting 
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels : for I was 
an hungered, and ye gave me no meat ; I was thirsty, 
and ye gave me no drink ; I was a stranger, and ye 
took me not in ; naked, and ye clothed me not ; sick, 
and in prison, and ye visited me not." 1 Surely every 
one who is using his money and other means of in- 
fluence selfishly, may well ask himself, whether he 
can after these plain words of Christ, expect to be 
owned at last as his disciple 'I 

But there are, further, higher motives than any 
derived from the expectation of a reward, however 
powerful and however scriptural that motive may 
be; motives which ought to govern all the world, 
and which do in fact more than any others govern 
the Christian. What has not Christ done for him? 
His guilt is removed ; his sin is pardoned, his soul 
is renewed, he has become a child of God, he is 
safe for ever, he will be happy throughout eternity, 
he has settled peace, and he has a hope full of im- 
mortality. But who has given him all these ? They 
are obtained by no labours ; they are merited by 
no excellencies ; Christ only could and would be- 



1 Matt. xxv. 

R 4 



372 MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 

stow them. And this He did, not by imparting to 
him, with more than kingly munificence from the 
treasures of Omnipotence, that which would cost 
him nothing; but by himself submitting to human 
infirmities, to painful want, to the contempt of the 
proud, to the hatred of the wicked, to the injustice 
of the great, to the execration of the populace ; to 
calumny, ridicule, and insult; to the scourge and 
to the cross. By these unknown sufferings, by this 
unparalleled humiliation, by this sacrifice of divine 
glory, he has secured to those who were his ene- 
mies, all temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings: 
and for such benefits, springing from a love which 
passeth knowledge, what return must his disciples 
make: " Ye are not your own, for ye are bought 
with a price. Ye are Christ's. For none of us liveth 
to himself and no man dieth to himself; for whether 
we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die^ 
we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore or 
die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both 
died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord 
both of the dead and living Consistent believers 
accordingly feel that they are Christ's. They nerer 
can repay him ; nor can they ever serve him, love 
him, and honour him as much as they ought. As 
far as they fall short of perfect devotedness,' they 
see that they are ungrateful, and acknowledge that 
they are corrupt. All selfish expenditure of time 

1 1 Cor. vi. 19,20. lCor.iii.23. Rom. xiv. 7-9. 2 Cor v 
14, 15. 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 373 

or money, is felt by thera to be a sin against their 
Redeemer, and they rejoice to spend and to be 
spent in promoting his cause. What some of his 
disciples have felt, all of them ought to feel. What 
adequate returns can they make ? He has given 
his life for them ; and what ought they to refuse to 
consecrate to him? 

Lastly, we ought to be powerfully influenced 
by his example. He accumulated no wealth, he 
allowed himself no repose, and he shrunk from no 
labour ; he lived hardly, and met all kinds of trou- 
bles; he came not to be ministered unto, but to 
minister ; he wept over J erusalem ; and he died 
for his enemies. Now if we live to please our- 
selves, doing nothing for others, can we be indeed 
his disciples, or do we deceive ourselves? " If any 
man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of 
his;" 1 and that blessed Spirit must make us to re- 
semble him. His whole course was meant to be 
our pattern. " He suffered for us, leaving us an 
example that ye should follow his steps" 2 When 
he washed his disciples' feet, he said, " If I then, 
your Lord and master, have washed your feet, ye 
also ought to wash one another's feet ; for I have 
given you an example, that ye should do as I have 
done to you." 3 If St. Paul would exhort the 
Corinthians to liberality, he used this example : 
" For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
that though he was rich, yet for your sokes he became 



1 Rom. viii. 9. 2 1 Pet. ii. 21. 3 John xiii. 14, 15. 



374 MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 



poor, that ye through Ms poverty might be rich" 1 
And when he wished to lead the Philippians to 
lowliness and disinterested kindness, he said to 
them, "Let this mind be in you which was also in 
Christ Jesus" 2 Indeed, the imitation of Christ in 
all things is one end for which sinners are converted 
by the grace of God ; "for whom he did foreknow, 
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image 
of his Son." 3 With these declarations in our minds, 
let us remember that, disregarding all the aims 
of ordinary ambition, his object, next to glorifying 
God, was to bless men. He went about doing good, 
he healed the sick, he fed the hungry, he instructed 
the ignorant, he reproved the hypocritical, he 
preached the Gospel to the poor; he laboured, 
suffered, died, to work out the redemption of sin- 
ners, and still in glory is carrying on his great 
design, till he shall present to himself his whole 
church complete in holiness and bliss. 4 Who then 
can live for secular ends alone, for money, power, 
and pleasure, for the management of his property, 
for the esteem of his friends, for the worldly ad- 
vancement of his children, for professional success, 
for any earthly objects, exclusive of all efforts to 
save souls, and be one of Christ's disciples ? If any 
man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of 
his. And what can be more opposed to his ex- 
pansive and unwearied benevolence, than a nar- 



1 2 Cor. viii. 9. 
3 Rom. viii. 29. 



2 Phil. ii. 5. 
4 Eph. v. 27. 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 375 

row arid sordid devotedness to self-interest ? Last- 
ly, let us think of his love. Most justly does 
St. Paul say of it, that it passeth knowledge. As 
it once made him lay down his life, so it exists 
still in undiminished intensity ; and will for ever. 
At this moment he loves us, so as to give his life 
for us, so as to make us perfect, and so as to bless 
us with boundless good. And with all that love, 
he bids us make him known, that other sinners 
may be saved as well as we. He bids us please 
him, by trying to save others from eternal death, 
as his love has saved us. Can we refuse ? If so, 
we love him not ; nor do we know his love. And 
instead of glorying in the Christian name, we may 
well remember the awful decision of the Word of 
God ; " If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, 
let him he Anathema Maranatha." 

Reader, let all these motives pass before your 
mind. Weigh them; allow your mind to dwell upon 
them ; and then act conscientiously, according to 
your view of duty. It is the revealed will of God 
that you should aid Christian missions. Millions are 
perishing in ignorance and sin ; it is perfectly prac- 
ticable to preach the Gospel to them; the effects 
resulting from missionary efforts, to individuals 
among the heathen, to heathen nations, to Chris- 
tian churches, and to the nations which form these 
missions, are all most important ; there are men 
and money enough in Great Britain to teach the 
world ; examples of zeal and liberality are espe- 
cially needed, to induce Christians to do their duty ; 



O/O MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 

and in the present poverty of missionary societies, 
there must be a waste both of men and of money, from 
the feebleness of solitary missionaries. All these 
truths having been ascertained, and pressed upon 
our attention, we can no longer plead ignorance as 
an excuse for sloth ; and we have long neglects, 
both national and individual, to atone for. While 
we have been wasting much time and money, a few 
noble examples both of zeal and liberality have 
arisen in the church, and above all others, we have 
the example of Christ, to animate us to self-denying 
compassion. All we have is Christ's : and we are 
bound by the most solemn obligations to live to 
him. On the one hand, he commands us to be 
liberal ; on the other, gives us the most gracious 
promises if we will obey him. Liberality is pleas- 
ing to him ; temporal, spiritual, and eternal bles- 
sings, to others and to ourselves, are connected 
with it, and lastly, all these commands and pro- 
mises are given by him who loves us with a love 
which passeth knowledge. 

Under the influence of these motives, determine 
first your whole expenditure and all the habits 
of your lives. And then, when you have consi- 
dered, not how little, but how much, you may be 
allowed to give to the cause of religion and huma- 
nity, settle as in the sight of the Great Proprietor 
what proportion of time and money you should 
give for the salvation of the heathen. As before 
him, as on the eve of the judgment-day, with all 
the solemn sincerity of men about to stand before 



MOTIVES TO MISSIONARY EXERTION. 377 

the Omniscient Judge, consider whether you may 
give yourselves to this work. And if you believe 
that you may not, then give all, that other claims 
permit, for the purpose of maintaining those who 
have the inclination to preach the Gospel among 
the heathen, and whose circumstances permit them 
to indulge it. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE ? 



" Whatever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto 

men." Col. iii. 23. 
" Pray without ceasing." 1 Thess. v. 17. 



Three things only remain to be noticed : the pre- 
sent duty of the church of Christ towards the 
heathen ; the duty of individual Christians ; and 
the dispositions which we require in order to fulfil 
these duties. 

I. ~No one can doubt that there are numbers of 
young men of religious principle who might become 
missionaries if they would ; it is as certain that self- 
denial would enable the real Christians of this coun- 
try to raise very much larger funds to maintain 
them ; and the heathen world is perishing because 
they do not go. Beyond all question, it is the duty 
of the whole church of Christ to strengthen and 
extend its missions : and to every place where the 
heathen are ready to receive Christian teachers, 
they ought to be sent to itinerate among the un- 
taught, to be pastors to the converts, to write, 
print, and distribute religious and useful books, to 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE { 



379 



multiply primary schools, and by means of superior 
seminaries to train up native converts for the Chris- 
tian ministry. 

As several missionaries have been united in the 
same mission in South India, the north of Ceylon, 
Sierra Leone, New Zealand and elsewhere, much 
to the advantage of these missions, similar plans 
should be adopted for the rest of the heathen world. 

India ought, at once, to be filled with such asso- 
ciated missionaries. Those stations, in which at pre- 
sent single missionaries are wasting their strength 
on duties which are oppressive and often fatal, 
ought to receive four or five missionaries to labour 
either on the same spot, or in contiguous parishes. 
Calcutta and Benares want more labourers ; but 
other cities need assistance still more. Burdwan 
has only three ; Kidderpore, Monghyr, Berham- 
pore, have only two. Chunar, Gorruckpore, Kur- 
nahl, Agra, Digah, Patna, Allahabad and Chin su- 
rah, Dacca and Chittagong, have only one. Why 
should not all these have five as Jaffna has, since 
there is abundance of work to be done, and the 
people are willing to listen ; but if these places are 
ill supplied, what are we doing for others ? Delhi 
has no missionary, Cawnpore has none : Gazypore, 
Buxar, Moorshedabad, with a hundred other impor- 
tant places teeming with immortal beings, have none. 
Central and North Western India are wholly neg- 
lected, and the inhabitants of the native states not 
under British protection are also left to the ruin with 
which they are menaced. Bengal, with its forty 



380 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



millions; Agra, with its thirty millions ; and Bom- 
bay, with its six millions, ought to have more than 
the few and scattered missionaries, who now serve 
only to mark that English missionaries ought to 
evangelize India, and that they do not. We ought 
at once to enter on Eajpootana and Oude, on 
Berar, and the dominions of the Nizam, immense 
territories with a teeming population, in which 
British influence is supreme. 1 Nor are the inde- 
pendent states beyond our reach ; Runjeet Sing is 
friendly to the English ; while in the territory of 
Nepal, and in the dominions of Scindia, contiguous 
as they are along large portions of their frontiers 
to British territory, Englishmen would be treated 
with respect, if indeed for the sake of the language 
they were not absolutely courted. Any thing like 
the zeal and enterprize which carried Ricci, Schaal, 
and Verbiest, with their coadjutors, to Pekin, would 
plant missions in the capitals of all the native 
states in India, nor would Hydrabad, Nagpoor, 
Lahore, or Lucknow, be five years longer without 
missionaries. 

These two objects ought both to be kept in view. 
If there are populous heathen cities in which Christ 

1 At the meeting of the Bristol Auxiliary to the Church Mis- 
sionary Society, in April of this year (1839), Mr. Bickersteth 
stated, that applications had been made to the Corresponding 
Committee at Madras to found missions in the dominions of the 
Nizam, and of the Rajahs of Bera and Travancore, with assu- 
rances of local support, but that they were unable to undertake 
them. 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE ? 



381 



is not preached, and in which the missionary would 
be protected, to which he is invited, and where he 
would have willing hearers, those who might have 
sent these missionaries, and do not, must be surely 
not free from guilt. But important as this object 
is, it is still more necessary to make these missions 
which are already founded more effective. The 
directors of missions, at least in this country, do not 
yet seem to be fully impressed with the importance 
of having a missionary corps in each place. The 
American societies act on this principle to a far 
greater extent than we do. To afford missionaries 
the help of united counsels and combined labours 
to evangelize whole districts, to write educational 
books and works of practical piety, to superintend 
Christian churches, to multiply and superintend 
Christian schools for the poor, to give to each 
mission the aid of European medical skill, and 
above all, to train up a native ministry for each 
Indian nation, it is absolutely necessary that there 
should be four or five missionary families at least 
in every missionary locality. Till missionaries are 
every where thus grouped together, it seems to 
me vain to look for any great results. The Al- 
mighty works by suitable means, and we are bound 
to use them. 

I have mentioned, as one of the objects to be kept 
in view in each mission, the education of native 
ministers. To this point also, which, from its im- 
portance, deserves a separate consideration, the 
missionary societies, with the exception of the 



382 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE ? 



Assembly of the Scotch Church, have not, as I 
conceive, paid sufficient attention. The numerous 
converts made by Swartz and Gericke might have 
formed flourishing Christian churches in South 
India, had native ministers been carefully educated 
to become their pastors: but when the supply of 
European ministers failed, these converts were 
sheep without a shepherd; and their children, 
though retaining the Christian name, sunk into 
a state very little raised above the heathen by 
whom they were surrounded. And what better 
end can we expect for the converted thousands 
of the southern missions of Neyoor, Nagercoil, and 
Tinnevelly, should any thing occur to intercept 
the supplies of European teachers, unless they have 
enlightened and pious Christian ministers raised 
up among themselves? Indeed, on every account, 
it is of the highest importance to train native 
ministers. 

1st. A native ministry, supposing it to be equally 
efficient, would be far more economical; because 
the Europeans require expensive palliatives to the 
exhausting heat of the climate, such as airy rooms, 
iced water, punkahs, horses, and carriages, which 
native ministers in general would not require. 

2ndly. Ministers would be much more easily sup- 
plied in sufficient numbers from among the natives 
than they could from European nations at the anti- 
podes, speaking foreign languages, and used to 
other climates. 

3rdly. Native ministers would, ceteris paribus, 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



383 



be much more effective, because they would speak 
their own language more fluently and more cor- 
rectly than foreigners can, unless the latter have 
passed so many years in the missionary service 
as their health will scarcely ever enable them to 
spend in India. 

4thly. Native ministers would, ceeteris paribus, 
labour both harder and longer than it is possible 
for Europeans to do in a climate so trying to Euro- 
pean constitutions. 

5thly. Native ministers are more on a level with 
the people than Europeans can be, who belong to 
the nation of conquerors, and whose habits are 
necessarily raised above that of the Hindoo pea- 
santry, as much as that of an Irish gentleman above 
the tenants of the mud hovels by which he is sur- 
rounded. 

6thly. The Hindoos have a notion that the Chris- 
tian religion is the best for Europeans, but that 
theirs is the best for them ; a prejudice which native 
evangelists are much more likely to remove than 
Europeans can be. 

At the same time, these natives must be educated 
well, or they will not be fitted for the duties of the 
ministry in India. Many of the brahmins are 
shrewd men, whose arguments are often ingenious 
in defence of their own system ; and who oftener 
know how to employ effectively the common so- 
phistries against the truth which are derived from 
the vices and irreligion of professed Christians. The 
Government English schools too are about to give 



384 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



a European education to all the upper classes ; so 
that the Zemindars, the native officers of Govern- 
ment, the authors, the schoolmasters, and almost 
all the rich men of India, will soon have imbibed 
European knowledge, fatal to their own religion, 
absolutely compelling them to throw away their 
legends and their idols, without at the same time 
having received any knowledge of Christianity. To 
meet the moral wants of these educated classes, un- 
educated ministers can do nothing. Henceforth our 
native teachers must have therefore a good Euro- 
pean education. They must be practised to speak 
and to write our language well, as that must be the 
vehicle of all superior instruction ; and that their 
minds may be enlightened, and their characters 
formed, that they may be sound reasoners and men 
of general information, that they may be qualified 
to instruct the educated classes of their own country, 
that they may form a native Christian literature,' 
that they may mould the mind of the Indian em- 
pire, (for nothing less than this is the august office 
of these Christian evangelists), they must be well 
read in English authors, they must be acquainted 
with modern science, they must think much and 
reason much in English, they must obtain a Euro- 
pean character, they must be what pious young men 
are, who, after taking a good degree at Cambridge, 
have spent two or three years in theological study 
subsequently. But for all this it is necessary that 
we should have first rate men appointed to preside 
over our missionary institutions, not at the capitals 



"WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



385 



only of the four Presidencies, but in every province 
in India. The educational institutions of the 
Scotch Church at Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras 
are worthy of general imitation by all other great 
missionary societies, who are beginning to have 
their theological seminaries, and if they wish to 
do all the good they can, should make them as 
effective as possible. Unless these seminaries 
afford a good literary education, they will be nearly 
useless ; because knowledge is absolutely necessary 
to the pastors of an educated community: and 
unless they are conducted in a missionary spirit 
they will be worse than useless ; because they will 
tend to extinguish the piety of the youths sent 
there for their education. They should resemble 
the missionary institutions at Islington and Basle, 
or the School of Theology at Geneva. The young 
men should be instructed in Hebrew and Greek, 
with especial reference to the interpretation of the 
Scriptures ; they should be introduced to our best 
theological writers ; know something of church 
history; and be especially instructed in all the 
duties of a pastor: while all this should be addi- 
tional to a liberal education in all useful secular 
knowledge. The native ministers thus trained 
would amply repay, by their intelligence and use- 
fulness, whatever expenditure the societies might 
be obliged to incur in their education. 

On the other hand, circumstances seem to intimate 
that much more regard ought also to be paid to 

s 



386 



WAAT IS TO BE DONE 1 



China than has hitherto been paid ; and that there 
should be immediate efforts to distribute Christian 
books along its coasts and among its emigrants. 
There are some obstacles indeed to this work, which 
we might not have anticipated. The discreditable 
jealousy of the Dutch Government, which forbids 
American missionaries to labour in any part of 
Netherlands India, excepting in the Island of 
Borneo, and harasses them even there with vexa- 
tious restrictions, while they supply few Christian 
missionaries themselves, ought to be the subject 
of loud remonstrances from every Protestant nation 
in the world. A Christian Government thus ac- 
tually interposes to perpetuate ignorance and vice, 
and employs its power only to curse its sub- 
jects with a protracted bondage to heathenism. 1 
As Java was ceded to that Crown by England, 
might not our Government properly mediate to 
procure for English subjects, at least, the right 
of settling as missionaries in any part of their do- 
minions? By the journal of Mr. Kam, it appears 
that the inhabitants of the Moluccas are absolutely 

1 It is scarcely to be credited, that not long siDce, the resident at 
Sourabaya, when the inhabitants of a neighbouring village, who 
wished to be instructed in Christianity, sent to ask him for a 
teacher and for Bibles, refused them both, declaring that he would 
not allow them to become Christians. 2 If this be true, it is in 
keeping with that persecution of unoffending disciples of Christ, 
which has lately disgraced the Dutch Government in Holland 
itself. 

2 Tract Society's Missionary Records, China, &c. 136. 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE ? 



387 



thirsting for Christian instruction; and it is intole- 
rable that a professedly Christian Government 
should refuse it to them. 

With or without their permission, however, 
English and American missionaries may at once do 
much for a large Chinese population in the In- 
dian Archipelago. If the tyranny of a heathen 
despotism forbids our entrance into Japan and 
Cochin China, and if Papal bigotry excludes us 
from the Philippines, Siam at least, and Singapore, 
Malacca, and Penang, offer an increasing popu- 
lation of Chinese to be at once instructed. Why 
then cannot more missionaries be sent to them? 
The language is difficult ; the proximity to the 
line, which passes almost close to Singapore, is 
not favourable to European energy ; and to this 
day English missions there have been languishing 
for want of men. Surely there should be a greater 
concentration of energy and talent upon that em- 
pire. Considering its extent, and the industry and 
intelligence of its people, it is not too much to 
say, that its conversion to Christ would speedily 
effect the downfal of idolatry throughout the East. 
Why then is the Church Missionary Society train- 
ing no students to follow its one agent in that 
Archipelago ? Why has the Scotch Church no 
Duff or Wilson for Canton and Singapore? Why 
does the London Society leave their five Ultra 
Gangetic missions without stronger reinforcements ? 
Why has no successor been found for Morrison? 
More wisely do the Americans here, as elsewhere, 

s2 



388 



"WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



concentrate their missionary forces ; so that they 
have five missionaries at Bankok, five at Singapore, 
and six in Borneo. Let England follow the good 
example ! 

But besides the missions which might be esta- 
blished or strengthened in the adjacent countries, 
the experience of some years seems to show that 
the missionary societies should attempt more for 
the Continent itself. 

When Messrs. Gutzlaff and Lindsey distributed 
books along the coast in the Amherst, which was 
solely a trading vessel, entering their ports contrary 
to imperial decrees, denounced by provincial pro- 
clamations, and opposed by the local authorities 
almost every where, they found, notwithstand- 
ing that opposition, that the people eagerly 
received their books. Of that visit however it 
might be said, that the Government was taken by 
surprise, and that a second attempt might find the 
authorities better prepared, and the distribution 
more difficult. 

A few months after that, Mr. Gutzlaff attempted 
a new distribution along the whole coast, in the 
Sylph, an opium trader, and found the people just 
as eager to receive books as they were in his 
former voyage. Later still, when news of all these 
efforts had been carried to the Imperial Court, 
and when the Christian books had been publicly 
denounced, Mr. Medhurst passed along the whole 
coast in the Huron, a vessel hired for missionary 
purposes alone. The books had been publicly de- 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE i 



389 



nounced, the Government had taken their mea- 
sureSj the Mandarins were watchful, the Huron 
touched at various places along the whole coast, 
many of them those which had been previously 
visited by the Amherst and the Sylph; and the 
people were more eager, and the authorities less 
opposed, and the distribution larger than ever. 
Now therefore there is an opportunity of distri- 
buting the Scriptures to almost any extent, along 
the coast, to a reading people; how long it may 
last we know not. Surely we should eagerly seize 
it. 

But as there is no legal European trade except 
at Canton, no vessels enter the northern ports 
except opium smugglers. The crews of these ves- 
sels would generally be of the lowest descrip- 
tion; the population with which they come into 
contact at each Chinese port of the worst kind ; 
they are vending to the Chinese intoxication, in- 
sanity, vice, disease, and death ; they are violating 
the strictest laws of the empire ; none but the disso- 
lute associate with them in this traffic ; and when 
in the midst of all this depravity and lawlessness, 
the missionary endeavours to distribute those Chris- 
tian books, he must obviously do it under the very 
greatest disadvantages. His own motives must 
be rendered liable to suspicion, and his own cha- 
racter among the Chinese injured, by the persons 
and the deeds with which he is obliged to be asso- 
ciated, and which he would often be thought to 
approve. Under these circumstances, how much 



390 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



it is to be desired, that vessels should be hired as 
the Huron for missionary efforts alone, with decent 
crews, with large stores of books, with European 
missionaries fluent in the Chinese, and with a few 
native evangelists on board to distribute books, 
and at the same time to preach the Gospel to all 
that will listen. And how important it is that this 
should be done speedily, before the Continent, now 
accessible, should be closed against missionary 
effort ! At least this seems worthy of the attentive 
consideration of every great missionary Society, 
which might afford the necessary expenditure. 
"Whether vessels should be hired at Macao, Singa- 
pore, or elsewhere, for how long, where they 
should ply, and whether any voyage might be 
made to any of the islands of the Archipelago, 
with all other questions of detail, would probably 
be best left to be determined by the friends of 
missions now in that part of the world. In almost 
all cases, to avoid collision, each society should 
avoid placing its missionaries in juxta-position with 
those of other societies, it being of the greatest 
importance, that the divisions, which unhappily 
prevail in the Christian church at home, should 
not be sown among the unestablished converts in 
missionary churches. Most carefully therefore 
should each Society avoid entering on those spheres 
of labour which are already occupied by other 
Societies, with sound principles: but China is a field 
so vast, so important, so worthy of the labours of 
all Protestant Societies; and the missions which 



WHAT IS TO BE DOXE ? 391 

shall be eventually established on its coasts may 
be so far distant from each other, that if the Bible 
Society, the Church Missionary Society, the London 
Society, and the American Board of Missions, 
should each have its missionary vessel, carrying 
on its separate operations along the whole coast, 
they would only aid each other in a work too vast 
even for their united efforts. 

But while thus India and China demand imme- 
diate and increased exertions, there are many other 
countries which ought not to be overlooked. Were 
the church of Christ in England animated with 
the spirit of the exiles at Herrnhut, or of the 
early Christians, it would immediately send its 
missionaries throughout the world. They would 
go to New Guinea ; they would spread themselves 
over New Zealand ; they would occupy the islands 
of the South Pacific ; they would rescue the tribes 
of Australia, and the remnant of North American 
Indians, from the ruin which threatens them ; and 
lastly, proceeding from the frontiers of the colonies 
of the Cape and of Sierra Leone, they would meet 
on the shores of Lake Tchad, and bring all central 
Africa within the sound of the Gospel. Almost 
the whole heathen world is ready to receive them. 
But missionaries alone are insufficient to evangelize 
it. So long as sailors are drunken, blaspheming, 
and vicious, and so long as colonists and British 
settlers are living without the means of grace, 
Great Britain will continue to exhale from its 



392 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



shores a moral pestilence to taint the atmosphere of 
the whole world. 

But if the Gospel Society, the Colonial Church 
Society, and the Colonial Missionary Society, by 
sending out clergymen and schoolmasters of de- 
voted piety to our colonies, occasion a great increase 
of true religion, they will not only secure protection 
for those heathen tribes, who, touching each colo- 
nial frontier, are liable to the insult and wrong, 
which the powerful (if without religious principle) 
always inflict upon the weak; but they will also 
prepare those heathen tribes to receive the Gospel. 
And if ships should be furnished with libraries and 
schoolmasters, if sailors should be refused spirits 
when on board, if they should be guided to cheap 
and decent lodgings when on shore, if invited in 
every part to hear the Gospel preached in floating 
chapels, if none but pious and zealous chaplains 
should be appointed to the vessels of her Majesty's 
navy, then might our sailors, instead of causing the 
name of Christ to be blasphemed through their 
wickedness, render important aid to the cause of 
religion in every port at which they touched. 

II. 1. Towards this great work almost everv one 
may contribute something. And since it is an enter- 
prize so excellent, that to engage in it adds dignity 
to the most noble ; and since the will of the Almighty 
has been so plainly declared, that it must bind alike 
both the prince and the peasant; I venture to 
express my earnest prayer, that God would be 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE 1 393 

pleased to incline our gracious Sovereign to use 
the great influence committed to her stewardship 
by him for the promotion of this cause. Would 
she place herself at the head of the great mis- 
sionary societies, affording them her zealous sup- 
port, and uniting her prayers with the prayers 
of the people of God in every land, this, be- 
sides being the expression of her own dutiful zeal 
for the cause of Christ, which would gladden the 
hearts of all the most religious persons through- 
out her dominions, would also powerfully attract 
the attention of the worldly and the thoughtless, 
and lead them to add their contributions to this 
work of mercy. Her zeal might thus not only 
aid the missions, but be serviceable to her whole 
kingdom. 

2. Under her, how much may her ministers 
accomplish by their zealous patronage. Not only 
might they render their personal aid, but by ap- 
pointing as governors of our colonies, and as 
political residents in all the heathen lands with 
which we have any relations, those only who fear 
God, (which of late, in various instances, I re- 
joice to acknowledge they have done,) they might, 
by means of the influence of these governors and 
residents, materially promote the missionary efforts 
in India and Ceylon, at Singapore and Canton, 
at the Cape, in New South Wales, in Canada, in 
the West Indies, and wherever else any of their 
officers may be stationed. 

s3 



394 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



3. Next to the ministers of the Crown, are noble- 
men and gentlemen, rich merchants and wealthy 
capitalists, called to contribute. Some indeed do. 
But it is painful to consider that the whole amount 
raised by the united zeal of the Christians of Eng- 
land for the missionary cause, does not exceed 
what a few members of the wealthier class might 
easily spare from their immense revenues, without 
the loss of any real enjoyment to which they are 
accustomed. The whole amount contributed by 
every society for missionary objects does not 
amount to more than £300,000 per annum. The 
distribution of wealth in Great Britain is not well 
known, nor have the incomes of its inhabitants ever 
been accurately classified. 1 But as there are landed 
properties, the rents of which are from £50,000 
per annum to £100,000 per annum, and there are 
wealthy capitalists, manufacturers, and merchants, 
who are supposed to possess not less than £1,500,000; 
if there are only twenty land-owners, with an in- 
come of £50,000, twenty capitalists, with a capital 
of £1,500,000, that is, at three per cent., with an 
income of £45,000, and forty more with a capital 
of £1,000,000, or an income of £30,000, all which 
suppositions are probably less than the truth, then 
these eighty persons, by contributing one-tenth 
of their incomes to the missionary cause, would 
contribute £310,000 per annum. These eighty 
gentlemen of the United Kingdom, in the exercise 

1 M'Culloch's Statistics, i. 535. 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 395 

of a liberality far less than that manifested by the 
primitive church, without diminution of their ca- 
pital, and without the loss of any of the indulgences 
of life, might give more to this cause than is now 
furnished by all the missionary societies together. 
Mr. Cobb, of Boston, in New England, from his 
first entrance upon business, gave away, as we 
have seen, one quarter of his net profits to chari- 
table and religious uses, and after becoming pos- 
sessed of 50,000 dollars, consecrated to these 
objects all his profits. Were a few of our 
wealthiest class animated by the same spirit, they 
might encourage genius, and patronize moral 
worth ; they might train numbers of pious and 
able men for the ministry ; they might establish 
schools, and build churches; they might fill them 
with faithful ministers who would diffuse religious 
and useful knowledge far and wide ; and they might 
send missionaries to many lands. Thus they might 
be patterns to other men of wealth, do honour 
to their class and to their country ; enjoy the well- 
earned affection of thousands of their fellow-sub- 
jects, and leave behind them an example which 
should descend as a blessing to remote generations, 
when the vulgar magnificence preferred by many of 
their contemporaries should be utterly forgotten. 
What could be done by the princely munificence 
of some, may be done in a measure by many. 
Every gentleman of property may do much by 
his liberality to determine that of numbers around 

s4 



396 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



him. Good examples, like bad ones, are conta- 
gious : and should a landed proprietor, instead of 
rivalling his neighbours in his plate and furniture, 
his wines and his horses, derive large funds for 
benevolent objects from his moderation, support 
every county charity, encourage his industrious 
tenantry, have his cottages in better order, and 
his farms under better management than his neigh- 
bours, and should also give liberally towards 
the diffusion of the Gospel among the heathen, 
he would certainly draw many to imitate him in 
both kinds of liberality. And how are the five 
talents to be made ten, except by this method 
of using them ? To use wealth, education, leisure, 
station, and influence, to do more good than others, 
is to have a lot which is indeed enviable : while 
to waste these things upon self-indulgence must 
incur a proportionate responsibility, and involve 
the possessor at last in intense regret. But besides 
contributions in money, pious laymen may ma- 
terially aid the cause of missions, by speaking at the 
different meetings. How often is this duty as- 
signed exclusively to clergymen, while influential 
laymen present remain silent. Clergymen have 
indeed more practice in public speaking than many 
laymen, and ought to be ready to every good 
work, but fluency is not essential to very useful 
public speaking, and if it were, laymen are just 
as able to attain it as clergymen. On all ordinary 
topics, at parochial or county meetings for business, 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



397 



on the hustings, and at political dinners, they speak 
with precision and force ; why then be silent on the 
topics which, of all others, should make the dumb 
eloquent ? The reason is, that they do not usually 
make themselves masters of the subject : they have 
recognized the duty of preaching the Gospel to the 
heathen, and they know generally that God has 
given a blessing to missionary efforts ; but of the 
details of missions even Christian men are often 
profoundly ignorant. Should this be the case with 
any one of my readers, I would venture to ask 
him, whether any of the subjects which occupy 
his leisure, any of the different kinds of knowledge 
with which he enriches and delights his mind, 
are either more useful to be known, or more neces- 
sary for a Christian, than the advancement of 
the cause of Christ ? Can a Christian contentedly 
be ignorant of the progress of society in that, which 
is most essential to its welfare, while he occupies 
himself with its progress, in a thousand matters 
of less importance? Can he neglect to learn that 
which may make him useful, only to study that 
which may give him a moment's amusement ? 

4. Captains in the navy, and captains of mer- 
chantmen may do something for the cause of 
missions, by securing temperance, decency, and 
public worship in their vessels, by preferring, as 
far as the choice lies with them, sober and re- 
spectable seamen, by having libraries of religious 
and useful books for their use, by attending divine 
worship with their men wherever they land at 



398 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



a missionary station, by recommending the Gospel 
to the natives, by examining the state of the mis- 
sion, and by reporting upon its state to the Com- 
mittee at home. 

5. English residents in the neighbourhood of 
each mission may also render invaluable help. As 
ungodly Europeans in New Zealand, in South 
Africa, in India, in the West Indies, in North 
America, and in every British colony, have incal- 
culably hindered missions; so those who are well 
disposed may promote them. They may form 
missionary associations among Europeans ; they 
may give to the missionaries who may be near 
them their friendship and support ; they may speak 
to the natives, employed by them, of Christ; 
they may distribute the Scriptures, and visit the 
Christian schools : they may secure the affection 
and respect of their heathen neighbours by doing 
them all possible good ; and then try to lead them 
to listen to the missionary and to attend Christian 
worship. 

6. Young men who have health and good under- 
standing, without ties to hinder them, may them- 
selves preach Christ to the heathen. To what 
better purpose can they apply their abilities, than 
to consecrate them, as Carey and Morrison did, 
to the conversion of the heathen? What if these 
excellent men had chosen to devote themselves 
to literature or to business, would their choice have 
been so wise, so humane, so satisfactory to them- 
selves, or so useful to the world, as the choice they 



"WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



399 



made, the one giving the Scriptures to some mil- 
lions of Hindoos, the other to the millions of China? 
They never regretted their choice, and few young 
men who, with similar abilities, should decide to 
tread in their steps, would ever repent of that 
decision. If any one having served his country 
in the army or navy, finds happily in this time 
of peace that there is no prospect of employment 
in his own profession, can he do better than imitate 
Mr. Williams, of New Zealand, who, when his 
country no longer demanded his services, employed 
all the coolness and practical sense which he had 
derived from his naval experience, to found a 
church of Christ in that savage island? If any 
one has studied medicine, can he use his knowledge 
in a more benevolent or Christian way than by 
following the example of Dr. Steele in South India, 
Dr. Ware in Ceylon, Drs. Bradley and Tracey in 
Sierra Leone, and Dr. Parker at Canton ? All of 
these, as missionary physicians, may not only be 
of the greatest comfort to the missionaries them- 
selves, but also by their medical knowledge conci- 
liate the respect and affection of the natives of 
the district to the missionaries with which each 
is connected. Medical knowledge is of essential 
use in all half civilized heathen nations. India 
indeed, thanks to the enlightened zeal of Govern- 
ment, will soon have its own native physicians 
well educated in all the medical and anatomical 
knowledge which Europe can bestow ; but for some 



400 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



years in India, and for many years to come in 
all the other heathen nations, the medical science 
and the surgical skill of Europe will be invaluable. 
Mr. GutzlafF owes much of the influence he has 
acquired among the Chinese to the possession of 
that knowledge. And more recently, when the 
mission to the Jews at Jerusalem was nearly pa- 
ralyzed by the exertions and anathemas of the 
Rabbis, the arrival of Mr. Gerstman to aid Mr. 
Nicolayson by the practice of medicine and sur- 
gery, broke through the Rabbinical ban, and 
brought the Jews in greater numbers than before 
to listen to the Gospel. At this moment there 
are numbers of young medical men, who cannot 
obtain a livelihood by their profession, not from 
the want of talent, but from the amount of com- 
petition among them. Among these it must be 
presumed that there are some pious. Why do 
not such offer themselves for missionary service ? 
Perhaps it may be that the various Committees 
have not, with sufficient distinctness, announced 
their readiness to employ them. If this be the 
case, I venture respectfully to suggest to the mem- 
bers of those Committees, not only that they should 
employ them, and that as physicians, not requiring 
them to take orders, but also that they should make 
it known that they will maintain them on the 
same footing with the missionaries who are or- 
dained. This experiment of making a Christian 
physician the coadjutor of several ordained evan- 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



401 



gelists, has so far answered in several of the Ame- 
rican missions, that the practice has been extending; 
and we ought surely to profit by their experience. 

If any of my readers are about to engage in 
trade, although they may have tempting offers of 
wealth, let them ask themselves, whether to be 
occupied behind a counter, or to spend their time 
in the complicated details of money making, offers 
them a prospect of more happiness or usefulness 
than to consecrate their time to useful studies, 
and to spend their strength in turning souls to God. 
If they are about to enter the ministry with the 
opportunity of being settled among a people whom 
they would love, let them, as before God, ask them- 
selves whether they can glorify him at home so 
much as they could do by giving themselves to 
the service of the heathen. Dr. Duff might have 
staid at home, the pastor of some Scottish church ; 
and his people might have loved him, and his 
schools might have been well managed, and his 
congregation large ; and year by year some souls 
might have been saved through his ministry ; but 
he chose to go to Calcutta, and though only per- 
mitted to labour for four years when his health 
failed, yet were several influential Hindoos con- 
verted through his instrumentality, and many 
brought to renounce idolatry. A most important 
institution has been founded at Calcutta ; he has 
roused the whole Church of Scotland to greater 
missionary zeal ; he has led to the multiplication 
and improvement of missionary seminaries through- 



402 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



out India, and has turned the attention of the 
directors of missions, much more strongly than it 
had been turned before, to the necessity of taking 
effectual measures to train up a native ministry. 
By this course he has been far more useful than if 
he had decided to remain at home. And why 
should not other young ministers do the same ? If 
young and healthy, with an understanding dis- 
ciplined by a learned education, to meet on more 
than equal terms the Brahmin or the Confucian, 
with ability to train up young men for the ministry 
in Calcutta or Macao, in Tahiti or at the Bay of 
Islands, how can they hesitate to go ? They would 
leave no parish destitute ; the people among whom 
they would have settled would still have their 
pastor; so far from impoverishing the church 
at home, their example would lead some young 
men to enter the ministry, and would quicken those 
already in it to more faithful labour ; their choice 
of a missionary life would probably make them 
tenfold more useful than if they should remain at 
home; they have not yet formed any ministerial 
ties; perhaps no other impede their choice; and 
nothing therefore is wanting, except that they 
should yield themselves to do the whole will of God, 
(which, whether they go or stay, is their necessary 
duty,) to bring them to consecrate themselves to 
the service of Christ among the heathen. 

Lastly, the ministers of Christ, throughout this 
empire, are especially called to guide the church 
in the performance of this duty. Each may, in 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



403 



the first place, ascertain the progress of the Gospel 
in heathen lands, and make himself fully acquainted 
with the circumstances of different missions, con- 
ducted by Protestant Societies. Each may preach 
upon the duty of doing good to others, and may 
expound the promises and precepts of God's Word 
upon that subject ; showing the blessing which 
accompanies liberality, and declaring the curse 
which follows the unfaithful use of God's gifts. 
Each may form a parochial or congregational asso- 
ciation, and may then stir up much missionary feel- 
ing by holding monthly meetings. Such meeting 
may of course, as every other public service, become 
dull, but they never will, if the minister resolves 
they shall not. While there are missions in every 
part of the world, each has had its conflict, and 
has won its trophies, and in all there is much to be 
done, and much hoped for. Information abounds ; 
and the promises and precepts of Scripture, the 
missionary works of Williams, Medhurst, Gobat, 
Statham, Tyerman and Bennet, Gutzlaff, Ellis, 
Hough, Brown, Holmes, Loskiel, Stewart, Kay, 
Philip, Harvard, and others, the Missionary Re- 
cords, published by the Religious Tract Society, 
the Lives of Mrs. Judson, Mrs. Winslow, and 
Mrs. Wilson, of Brainerd, Martyn, and Elliott, 
of Swartz and Brown, the Missionary Register, the 
Church Missionary Record, and the Evangelical 
Magazine, the Reports of the English and Ame- 
rican Missionary Societies, with the Missionary 
Journal of Paris, and the Missionary Reports of 



404 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE ? 



Basle, may furnish any minister with endless ma- 
terials for interesting lectures to his people. Some 
of these works may be introduced into the juvenile 
library or his lending library for the poor. And he 
may also make different Christian missions the basis 
of many geographical lessons to the children of his 
schools, directing them to point out on the several 
maps, the places in which missionaries are labouring. 
His own people being well instructed, he may some- 
times extend his labours ; other pulpits of the 
neighbourhood will soon open to him : and at every 
missionary society in the county in which he lives, 
he may stir up the less zealous clergy of his neigh- 
bourhood to their duty, by his facts, his reasonings, 
his appeals, and his own earnestness. But chiefly 
may he serve the cause by seeking out promising 
young men of his congregation, and directing their 
attention to the duty of consecrating themselves to 
God. In each flock there may be clever and pious 
boys in the schools, who might be trained with 
especial view to that duty ; well qualified young 
men may be willing to go, but may not know 
whether they would be rejected by the Missionary 
Committee to which they might offer their ser- 
vices, or what steps they should take to introduce 
themselves to its notice. Such young men, in each 
congregation, the minister may encourage to offer 
themselves to some society, and thus help to sup- 
ply the most serious and pressing of all the wants 
which the different societies have to experience. 
Above all, ministers may solemnly give their own 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE '. 



405 



children to this work, making them from year to 
year acquainted with the progress of missions, and 
offering no objection, should the Lord afterwards 
incline them to go to the heathen themselves. 

III. At length then, my Christian brethren, we 
know our duty. We know that the heathen are pe- 
rishing by millions in ungodliness, vice, and error; 
we know that they are ready in many lands to listen 
to the Gospel ; we know that when they do listen, 
souls are saved, churches are formed, society is 
reformed, numbers are made holy, and Christ is 
glorified ; we know that professed Christians could 
easily teach the whole Christian world, that the 
real disciples of Christ could do much more towards 
it than they do, and perhaps that we are among those 
who are most faulty ; we know that many missions 
are weak for want of men, and languishing because 
they are weak, while there are large funds at home 
which are wasted upon self-indulgence, and num- 
bers of young men who scarcely know how to find 
employment ; we know that the past neglects of 
Christendom in general, and of England in par- 
ticular, have been disgraceful to the Christian name ; 
we have met with eminent examples of liberality 
and of missionary zeal ; we " know the grace of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich 
yet for our sokes became poor;" we know his 
compassion for souls, his love for us, and that it 
would please and honour him should we show ten- 
fold zeal in his cause ; and lastly, we know what 
each man may do to promote it. And he has said, 



406 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE ? 



" If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do 
them" Are we then ready so to do? We have 
all the requisite means. The heathen world is pre- 
pared to receive the Gospel, and without it, we 
cannot see how they can escape destruction. Should 
it be preached, all experience shows that God 
would make it the means of their salvation. All 
then is depending on the church. All, under God, 
is depending upon us. 

Disciples of Christ, who have been saved by his 
sufferings from eternal death, who have felt the con- 
straining power of his love, who have pledged your- 
selves at the table of the Lord, and in secret to 
be his devoted servants, will you glorify him by 
arising to save the heathen? Alas ! there are great 
obstacles in our way. Men in general are scornful, 
or indifferent to missions ; but the chief hindrances 
arise from our own worldliness, strife, and un- 
belief. 

Worldliness hinders us from feeling our obliga- 
tions ; worldliness makes our interests and pleasures 
appear of greater consequence than the salvation of 
the heathen; worldliness hardens us against their 
sufferings and dangers ; worldliness makes the spi- 
ritual blessings which the Gospel has to bestow 
appear trivial ; it makes all sacrifices, whether of 
time or money, seem burdensome ; it represses 
generosity ; it cherishes sloth ; it withholds the 
personal services of some Christians, and it re- 
stricts the contributions of almost all the rest. 

Our divisions are scarcely less fatal. Besides 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE ? 



407 



stamping* our exertions with the character of self- 
ishness, which destroys the influence which they 
might otherwise have upon the world, they are in- 
jurious in many other ways. Because much of the 
actual amount of missionary exertion may be traced 
to sectarian emulation, it is often thought that this 
sectarianism is, at least, incidentally serviceable. 
But nothing can be more false. Substituting 
mutual animosity for brotherly love, and setting 
our thoughts on petty disputes, instead of animating 
us to generous exertions for the common cause, it 
extinguishes all genuine zeal, and leaves no other 
motive of action than a selfish jealousy. Thence- 
forth that jealousy may be the chief excitement to 
action ; but it is incomparably less powerful than 
zeal. Never can sectarianism be as self-sacri- 
ficing as charity : and to whatever efforts it may 
prompt, it is apt to be as fitful as it is penurious. 
False principle, though it may persevere in evil, 
seldom has the constancy of true principle in doing 
good. Moreover, while it lessens the amount of 
our exertions, it still more degrades their character. 
What is the use of sending out missionaries, form- 
ing schools and contributing funds, only lest our 
rivals should do more than us ? Is this charity or 
religion ? Have such efforts any moral value ? 
Do missionaries so trained, so selected, and imbued 
with such a spirit, go forth to devote themselves 
to the salvation of the heathen, or do they go to 
make a show by which they may serve their party? 
Will the Spirit of God bless such heartless, prayer- 



408 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE ? 



less, and unholy exertions ? or should they extend a 
thousand-fold, would they ever conquer the world ? 
When the Church did conquer the most civilized 
parts of the known world, it was when they were 
of one heart and one soul ; and they must be so 
again ere they go forth conquering and to conquer. 

With the other two great obstacles must be 
classed, in the next place, a want of faith, some- 
times appearing in the form of presumption, some- 
times inclining to despondency. As long as we 
have not clear views of the promises and sincere 
dependence on the power of God, so long we are 
apt to be vain of success, and to be depressed by 
disappointment. In both cases we dishonour God : 
in neither can we expect his blessing. All the work 
of the missionary is his. Paul may plant, and 
Apollos water, but God only gives the increase ; 
and therefore to whatever degree the church acts 
in a self-dependant spirit, forfeiting thereby the 
divine blessing, to that extent its efforts become 
fruitless, or only productive of such delusive success 
as when the Eoman Catholic missionaries have bap- 
tized thousands without converting one, and have 
made the professed Church of Christ heathenish, 
not the heathens religious. 

Worldliness, therefore, disunion, and unbelief, both 
lessen exertion and degrade it. They hinder many 
from going to the heathen, they spoil the spirit of 
those who go, they corrupt our motives, they paralyze 
our energy, they withhold the divine blessing, they 
dishonour Christ, they prolong the reign of Satan, 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE ? 409 

and seal the doom of millions who are passing into 
eternity untaught. Grace only can set all right. 
If, in answer to our prayers, God would be pleased 
to pour out his Spirit on the church, worldliness 
would be changed into spirituality, discord would 
cease, and a humble confidence would make his 
people to say, " we can do all things through Christ, 
which strengthened us." Were the self-denying li- 
berality, the brotherly affection and joyful faith of 
the first disciples reproduced in the church, then 
we should also be prepared to achieve similar 
victories. Were our hearts set upon the greatest 
and best objects which can occupy them, we should 
deeply sympathize with the heathen ; and for their 
salvation we should think sacrifices and labours 
light. Then would many be eager to go, and the 
rest would zealously support them ; while their 
united prayers would bring down the most abundant 
blessings from God. What might not be accom- 
plished by the energetic supplications of the whole 
multitude of Christ's true disciples I 

The revival of religion which we have witnessed 
in the last thirty years, has been the fruit of prayer. 
Romaine is known to have associated with himself a 
few evangelical and earnest ministers of his day, for 
intercessory prayer. In 1744, a number of minis- 
ters and other Christians in Scotland, proposed 
to their fellow Christians to unite in prayer, on each 
Saturday evening and Sunday morning every week, 
for an abundant effusion of the Holy Spirit on the 

T 



410 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE ? 



whole Church of God. 1 This having been complied 
with by numbers in Edinburgh and Glasgow, in 
Aberdeen, and in many country towns and parishes, 
two years afterwards, they sent a memorial to their 
brethren in other countries, asking them to join in 
this method of united supplication : 2 and in 1747, 
President Edwards published his " Call to united 
Prayer. " Since 1784, prayer meetings for a re- 
vival of religion have been held in numbers of the 
Baptist congregations, on the first Monday in every 
month ; that practice has also spread much among 
the Congregationalists ; missionary meetings for 
prayer are now common in the Church of England • 
and for some years, Mr. Stewart, of Liverpool, Mr. 
Dallas, and other clergymen, have called the atten- 
tion of Christians much to the duty of united 
prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 

In concurrence with this increase of intercessory 
prayer, has there been an increase of piety through- 
out the Protestant world. Scarcely a church or 
denomination could be named, to which the bles- 
sing has been refused. The Protestant churches 
of Switzerland, Germany, France, Ireland, Scot- 
land, England, and the United States, have all 
been growing in grace. Even in Geneva, though 
its church has fallen into Arianism, and in Holland, 
though both the government and the clergy are 

1 Works of Jonathan Edwards, ii. 440. 

2 lb. ii. 443. 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 411 

disgraced by a persecuting spirit, have a number of 
sincere and zealous Christians of late arisen ; and 
the poor Waldenses, though persecuted by the Sar- 
dinian Government, and themselves fallen into 
neological coldness, have now a small body of sin- 
cere and zealous believers too. 

Nor has God refused his blessing to our mis- 
sionary efforts, however imperfect their character 
and limited their extent ; so that we cannot hesi- 
tate to believe that he has answered prayer. Our 
first duty therefore is, to pray more for the out- 
pouring of the Holy Spirit. He only, let us re- 
member, can either raise up a suitable agency for 
the conversion of the world, or make it effectual 
when raised. All who have ever preached the 
Gospel in the world, with that godly zeal, which 
prompts men to make every sacrifice, and which 
enables them to endure every toil, have thus 
laboured, " striving according to his working which 
wrought in them mightily." 1 And it must ever be 
so. No one with extensive knowledge and great 
ability, will be ready for Christ's sake, and for the 
sake of dying souls, to forego the honours and 
emoluments of a secular profession, and to be- 
come a Christian missionary, without his influence. 
Without that, Christians in numbers will continue 
to spend in luxurious ostentation the sums, which a 
more just appreciation of the worth of Christ would 
compel them to consecrate to the promotion of his 
cause. And when that influence has raised up a 

1 Col. i. 29. 

t2 



412 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE 1 



body of missionaries and provided for their support, 
it is equally necessary to give them the least real 
success. Can the most devout and holy, the most 
affectionate and prudent servant of Christ, secure 
the conversion of one soul? No man can come to 
Christ, except the Father draw him. 1 He must 
open the hearts of men to attend to the truth ; he 
alone can make thein welcome it. How much then 
is his influence needed ! While there are so many 
yet to be instructed, faithful and devoted ministers 
are few; important works languish for want of 
funds ; millions of the heathen are untaught ; mil- 
lions of Mahommedans are without a missionary ; 
few go to preach the Gospel to the Jews ; and those 
few are repelled by their indifference and unbe- 
lief. At home too, where there are so many paro- 
chial ministers preaching the truth, conversions are 
far from numerous and Christian devotedness is 
rare. Still is the earth deluged by ungodliness ; 
and real Christians, like those mountain tops which 
were seen from the ark on the tenth month of its 
fearful navigation, rise out of the boundless flood in 
small and scattered groups. Many even of these 
are separated from each other by controversies as 
angry as they are trivial. Many seem more eager 
for gain than godliness ; while very few, if any, 
endowed with the spirit of Paul or Luther, of Wick- 
liffe or of Whitfield, are men to move the world; 
very few robust of mind and body, with great at- 
tainments and greater courage, unreservedly conse- 
1 John vi. 44. 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 413 

crated to Christ, labour on with untiring energy, 
and pray with persevering faith for the salvation of 
sinners. At the same time, there is no general 
devotedness in the church, to render the want of 
such high examples less disastrous. How much 
we need the promised outpouring of the Spirit! 
Were that promise fulfilled at home, each English 
parish, now like a desert over whose waste a few 
flowers are scattered, would become a garden: 
were it fulfilled abroad, each Christian church 
among the heathen, at present composed of a few 
members, converted indeed and saved, but without 
wisdom or zeal, would then send forth its own mis- 
sionaries to invade and conquer the heathenism 
around it. While in the British colonies, settle- 
ments, in which God has been forgotten, and the 
ordinances of Christ disregarded, would glorify 
God by numerous converts, abounding in faith, 
and bringing forth all the fruits of righteousness. 
And why does not the church of Christ enjoy these 
blessings ? Assuredly his arm is not shortened 
that he cannot save, he has not ceased to delight 
in mercy ; nor is lie less glorified by the salvation 
of sinners, and by the faith of his people, than in 
the best times of the church. Is it to our want of 
prayer that we must attribute our want of bles- 
sings? We have not because we ask not. 1 

Why was Abraham heard for Sodom? Why 
was Moses heard for Israel ? Why was the prayer 
of Elijah permitted to save an entire nation from 

1 James iv. 2. 



414 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



drought and famine? All these wonders of mercy 
were to teach us that the " effectual fervent prayer 
of a righteous man availeth much." 1 What then 
would be the influence of the united prayer of hun- 
dreds of thousands ! But hundreds of thousands, 
it may be said, do pray. Possibly they do ; and the 
steady advance of religion in the last fifty years, 
the Christian activity which within that period has 
organized so many methods of doing good, the 
rapid growth of missions, and the large additions 
made every year to the church of Christ in various 
lands, are God's answers to those prayers. Still, 
does the salvation of our neighbours, of our coun- 
trymen, of our fellow subjects in the colonies, and 
of the heathen throughout the world, rest on our 
hearts ? Do we desire to see the kingdom of Christ 
come, with half the earnestness with which we pur- 
sue the various objects of ordinary ambition? We 
pray, — but is it such prayer as the deliverance of 
numbers from the fetters of Satan, and from the 
doom of eternal death should prompt? We pray, 
— but is it in faith and hope ; is it with the re- 
solved purpose of obtaining, if possible, what we 
ask? We pray for the cause of Christ — but what 
are we doing for it at home or abroad? Are we 
furnishing ministers to the untaught population of 
England? Are we sending pastors to the British 
provinces of North America and the flourishing set- 
tlements of Australasia? Are we providing mis- 
sionaries for the heathen ? We pray,— -but what if 

1 James v. 16. 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 



415 



He who hears us pray, and is the God of peace, sees 
us quarrelling with each other about trifles? What 
if He who gave his Son for our salvation, sees us 
seeking our own things and not the things of 
Christ, as though our prayers were a substitute for 
action, and the purchase of an indemnity for doing 
nothing ? Alas ! such prayers offend God as much 
as they dishonour him. Let Christians be united — 
liberal — devout — and what blessings will be with- 
held from them ? 

There is placed before them, if they knew it, a 
vocation great beyond the power of language to 
express. To subdue irreligion in society — to ren- 
der infidelity impossible — to banish superstition 
and heathenism from the earth — and in their place 
to plant truth and charity — to bring millions of 
sinners to Christ — and to render the nations hap- 
pier than they ever yet have been : such is our call- 
ing. But are we the persons to accomplish it? 
May God make us so ; or raise up a nobler, holier, 
more earnest and more devoted generation, to do 
all that we have neither the faith nor the charity to 
attempt. 1 

1 Colonial Church Record, October, 1838. 
FINIS. 



J. Dennett, Printer, 121, Fleet Street. 



